Stuck on You
by Atiannala
Summary: A Potions Prank creates a rather 'sticky' situation! What is it? Read to find out! This one is going to be fun!
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimer:  I own the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Well…no not really.

AN// I Actually had a request suggestion for this story, that I loved and decided to act upon.  I am really excited with this one, as it is going to be a romantic comedy and will not have any tragedy in it at all which is different than what I had done previously.  And as this one comes as a suggestion, I feel it only appropriate to dedicate this one to Sweet,Sexy Slytherin; hope you like it!  And now may I present you with the first chapter of Stuck on You:  

*~Accidents Happen~*

            "Eye of newt,"

            "Eye of newt."

            "Diced blorg beetles,"

            "Diced blorg beetles."  

            "Hair of griffin,"

            "Hair of griffon."

            "Good!  Now all we have to do is sit and wait for this sucker to boil."

            Ron yawned, "Wake me up when it does."

            "Ron!"  Harry yelled, not too loud for they didn't want to wake the rest of the Gryffindor house, but loud and sudden enough to make the red head jump.  

            "What?" 

            Harry sighed.  The rest of the Gryffindors went up to bed a long time ago; they did not have such important matters to attend to.  For right now, the sixth year students were in the middle of a two day potions project in pairs in which they were brewing a bilging potion which they themselves had to test; of course they were also to brew the antidote.  

            During their pre-project research, Harry and Ron stumbled upon something called the Binding Potion.  This concoction would bind the drinker with the first person they came in contact with as if an invisible chain connected the two at the waist.  The next day when Harry and Ron saw that Pansy had some how machinated her way into being Draco's partner, much to the latter's dismay; they couldn't help but think it'd be really funny to try a little experiment of their own.  Tomorrow, Draco would find himself to Pansy Parkinson!  

            "Ron, I think it's almost ready.  Come here, I need to practice the Switching Spell again."  

            A dark haired stood in front of a room full of sixteen year olds.  He was feeling rather embittered as he reflected on the vermin in front of him; they were all growing up so much.  Normally this would be thought of as a good thing, but Professor Snape merely saw it as a curse.  For every year they grew older and taller, they also grew a year cheekier and ruder.  

            The closer children got to being adults, the more they though they were adults and high above the rest of the hard working civilization.  Were they in for a shock!  As if the real world would care about their melodramatic and childish problems.  If there was one thing he couldn't stand, it was arrogant teenagers who though of them selves as so old and mature when all the while they responded to life like children.  

The professor sat dejectedly wondering which student he could help face reality today; testing had to be done in the next five minutes.  As he surveyed the room, he realized that Neville Longbottom was working with Hermione Granger; no doubt in order to keep him from losing points for the Gryffindors.  If he was with her, there was no chance of his making a mistake.  Pity, he was usually a sure thing.  Well, there was always Potter.  

Harry and Ron sat in the back of the room holding a book open on their laps, reading the effect of the binding spell, and laughing at the funny images of Draco and Pansy that filled their heads.  They were watching Draco closely to see when he finished his making his potion; they had finished theirs earlier- it's much easier to brew a group potion when you get along with you partner and they aren't denser than a forest.  

There!  Draco had put in the last ingredient, evident but the cloud of purple smoke that lightly bursted from the top.  Now he was sitting back in his chair waiting for the potion to cool.  

It was the moment Harry and Ron had been waiting for!  Quick as a rabbit, Harry uttered the words that would switch the potion he and Ron had brewed last night with the one in Draco's cauldron.  Perfect!  Now all they had to do was wait.  

Only moments later, the Professor's imperative voice spoke up, "It is time now, to test your potions."  

Hermione reached for the jar in front of her but felt something grab her arm.  "No Mione, you've done so much already, all I did was the antidote.  Let me test it."  

She agreed and allowed him to drink the potion.  

Ron was the tester in Harry's group.  Ron drank the potion and immediately began to swell.  Harry actually had to stand on a chair and pour the antidote into Ron's mouth before the other boy could deflate.  

All around the room, students were swelling up and shrinking down.  All except for Draco.  He didn't swell at all.  Trying to decide what he had done wrong, he began to read over the instructions again only to find he had done everything right.  

Frustrated with the potion Draco continued to flip through the instructions until he heard Pansy say, "Oh my!"  

Draco turned to see what the fuss was about, and saw a quite comical site.  Hermione Granger stood on a chair looking apprehensively at an empty jar besides a Swelling Neville whose swelling had already exceeded any done by any other student.  

 "Stay here!"  screamed and angry professor, "I will go get some help."

Draco like all the rest of the class had become paralyzed and stood captivated with Neville as he inflated to larger and larger proportions.  

Hermione still stood on the chair next to Neville looking at the glass, apparently trying to find the solution to her problem in the empty goblet.  As she stood there in deliberation, she didn't notice that Neville's swelling arms were beginning to come dangerously close to her.  A few seconds later, Hermione was knocked off the chair by one of Neville's enormous hands and was flung hard off the chair only stopping when she had collided with something bring her and it to the floor.  

A red head and raven haired boy stood up at the back of the classroom exchanging worried glances.  They had only been paying minimal attention to the engorging Neville as they were a bit preoccupied with watching a certain blond Slytherin.  However they did notice Hermione fall.  They leaned over their own desk to make certain they hadn't seen what they thought they saw.  

Alas, their eyes played no tricks; Hermione was sprawled out on the floor entangled with none other than Draco Malfoy.  

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Hello!  Okay, the first chapter is short because it is for the purpose of introduction only; a set up.  With the next chapter comes the start of the fun part.  What will Draco and Hermione do?  ^_^   I like this story!  I hope you do too!  Review and let me know!  Luv you guys!  

~Atiannala


	2. A Sticky Situation

Disclaimer:  I own nothing I tell you…::looks around::…Nothing!  

*~A Sticky Situation~*

~*~Alas, their eyes played no tricks; Hermione was sprawled out on the floor entangled with none other than Draco Malfoy.  ~*~

            Draco groaned and pushed Hermione off of his chest, before trying to sit up.   Unfortunately, for the blond, the girl bounced right back and knocked them both to the ground again.  

            "What gives Mudblood?  Get off!" said a rather exasperated Draco.  

            Hermione not at all liking this moaned, "I'm trying!"

            "It's not working!"

            "Well I-  Ahh!"

            Draco had shoved Hermione rather hard only to find that the moment she was flung away from him, he followed and they again ended up laying on the floor.  

            Hermione, now very put out about being squashed beneath Draco, screamed at the blond, "Get off, Ferret Face!"  

            "I can't!" was his desperate reply.  

            All the while, Neville continued to swell causing quite a distraction amongst the students.  He was slowly approaching the size of a grown elephant.  Tables were being pushed out of the way, chairs slid across the floor, cauldrons fell to the breaking, potions contents spewed everywhere.  Hermione and Draco's predicament went for the most part unnoticed.  

            Neville's head was almost touching the ceiling before Professor Snape returned with a new antidote and Madam Pomphrey.  

            "Calm down every one everything will be okay." the professor assured as he entered the room.  Of course, they had to levitate the antidote up to reach Neville's mouth which by now could have easily swallowed jar and all whole.  He was promptly escorted by Madam Pomphrey up to the hospital wing so she could examine and make sure he did not have any lasting damage.  

            When Neville had left the room, an anxious silence fell upon the students.  After a moment, the Professor snapped at the children.  "Well!  I'd be on my way if I were you, fifty points from Gryffindor for making the entire class late!"  Then he turned on his heel to start preparation for his next class, a satisfied smile playing with his twisted features.  

            Harry and Ron took one look at each other, both silently agreeing that it was best to get out before Hermione realized what had happened.  Harry, Ron, and the rest of the students filed out of the room, leaving Draco and Hermione alone on the floor of the still classroom.  

            There was a heavy silence in the room, one that neither student wanted to break.  After a moment of struggling, Draco whispered, "This is ridiculous," and in one deft movement grabbed Hermione around the waist and pulled both of them up and began to leave the classroom.  

            Hermione had barely touched her stuff before she felt a pull behind her navel drawing her toward the blond who was walking away.  Hurriedly, she grabbed her stuff, just as she lost control of her feet and went flying out of the classroom and into Draco, landing them, once again on the floor.  

            "Damn it Granger!"  Malfoy turned around sharply, glaring at Hermione.  

            "Stuff it Malfoy!" Hermione said, quite perturbed by the fact that she could not rightly explain why she kept getting hurled into Malfoy.  "Stand up."  Her voice had lost its edge and both teenagers slowly stood.  

            "Great, can I go now?"

            Hermione nodded, making sure to grab hold of the door handle before Draco started moving.  

            The blond began to walk away, but before he got fifteen feet away,  his pace had slowed almost to a halt.  Hermione had to put a death grip on the door to keep from flying forward.  Draco had stopped advancing forward himself, and now seemed to be fighting some invisible force that was hampering his progress.  Then Hermione saw that he was indeed going to do as she expected and-

            Both students went flying through the dungeon door of the potions class room crashing to the floor.  "This is getting old," whispered the brunette.  

            Before Draco could respond, a loud voice cut through the dense air.  

            "WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS??"  

            Both students scrambled to their feet aware that pushing and shoving the other would do them no good.  

            "Nothing, Professor, sorry!" said Hermione, "We were just leaving."

            "Quite right," agreed Draco.  

            Snape eyed them suspiciously.  "Draco," he began "I would like to speak to you about something, come with me to my desk.  Oh, you may go Miss Granger."  

            Both teens exchanged worried glances; this was not going to work.  Draco slowly began moving towards the desk, and Hermione moved towards the door.  

            One step…okay, they were good.  Another step…oh no, be strong, it only hurts a little.  Third step…just grit your teeth, you can do it.  Four…four…fou- 

            Both students went hurling at optimum speed towards each other until finally colliding in the center of the class room.  

            Snape turned around and peered through his scrutinizing eyes.  "Malfoy walk over here" he indicated his to his left, "And Grange, over there" his right.  

            They tried and once again collided.  "Interesting.  Now if you both will follow me."

            Snape began to walk out of the class.  Hermione and Draco shot each other death glares.  Neither was sure what was happening, but one thing was for sure:  any thing involving the other was the last thing they wanted to do.  

            "Mudblood!"  

            "Ferret!" 

            The followed Snape to Dumbledore's office.  Dumbledore was quite surprised to see three very surly faces at the door to his office.  

            "Well what can I do for you cheery bunch?"

            "I believe sir," Snape began, his own bitter tone contrasting highly with Dumbledore's jovial one, "That young Mister Malfoy and Miss Granger have gotten themselves into quite the predicament."

            "Why what ever do you mean, Severus?"

            "Take a look Professor."  

            He stepped aside and motioned for Hermione and Draco to separate.  For the hundredth time that day, they attempted to move in separate directions only to find themselves pulled back forcefully.  

            "Much more of this and my bum will have a bruise the size of Australia," snorted the blond boy who was currently rubbing his hind quarters while standing up.  

            "Merlin knows it large enough!" Hermione snapped receiving a death glare from Draco.  

            A bemused smile came to Dumbledore's face; an accident that was more called for had never transpired.  "Dear me, how did this happen?"   he looked at the teens and so did Professor Snape.  

            The two students found their gaze resting on the floor.  Then suddenly Draco remembered, "The potion!  I never blew up!  Some one must have switched it!"

            "Lord knows the great Malfoy could never screw up a potion on his own."  Hermione got another death glare for her comment as Draco seemed to mouth something akin to 'You just wait Mudblood!'  

            "Well," said Dumbledore, clearly disturbed by the amount of tension rising between the two teens, "Seems like a Binding Potion to me.  What about you Severus?"

            "That was, what I feared Headmaster."

            Hermione looked up, "Feared?  Why feared?"  

            "Because Miss Granger," his eyes pierced her sharply, "It is still a relatively new potion, and as such does not yet have an antidote."

            Hermione's stomach sunk.  Draco screamed, "No antidote?!  You mean I am stuck to her?  FOREVER?!"  He was looking at Hermione like he wanted to throw up.  She in turn looked at him as if she were plotting his murder.  

            "Not forever Draco," Dumbledore said again interrupting their intense display of hatred, "It is temporary, and the potion will wear off with time.  If you merely had a small sip, then you might only be stuck together for a few weeks."                 

            "A small sip?  A few weeks?!"  Draco's face was spread with disbelief

            "Why Mister Malfoy, how much did you drink?"           

            "A whole goblet."  

            The two professors exchanged looks.  "I think we had better arrange for more suitable living quarters."

            Snape nodded.

            "Living quarters!"  Hermione was outraged to be having to leave her friends. 

            "Well you didn't very well expect to be able to live in you dorm stuck to Malfoy and all did you?"  Hermione rolled her eyes at her greasy professor.  "Manners Miss Granger, or I'll have to give you a detention!" 

            "Really and will you give Malfoy one too?"

            "Hey!" said Malfoy, but he was unheard between Snape and Hermione. 

            "Miss Granger!  That is blatant disrespect.  I..."

            "Now, now Severus.  Hermione has had a shocking revelation I'd imagine.  You shouldn't judge her too harshly."

            Hermione looked at Dumbledore with thanks.  

            "Come now, I know just what we will do."  

            About an hour later, Draco and Hermione found themselves in a small common room attached to a private dorm listening to Professor Dumbledore explain to them their situation.  

            "Now I trust you will be quite comfortable here, it is plenty large enough for two people.  You will receive a new class schedule in the morning as you must be in the same classes now.  Dining will have to be up to you.  If you wish to alternate sitting at each others tables, you may.  However, if you feel the need, you might wish to have your meals sent up here.  I have done some more research on this Potion, and it appears that the less you resist each other's presence, the more elbow room you will get.  This will allow you some private time in the bathroom, and more suitable sleeping arrangements.  Take heed though: there are sensors in this room that will alert all staff of any risqué behavior," pausing to look at their disgusted faces he chuckled, "But I don't think we will have to worry about that!  Any questions, you may contact me.  Best of luck!"

            Dumbledore left the two alone.  The door shut and for a long time there was an eerie silence.  Then Draco spoke.  

            "Do you have any homework left to do?"

            "No I finished it all while we were waiting in Dumbledore's office."

            "Good we'll go to be then."

            "Oh will we?  And do I get a say in this?"

            "I'm thinking no!"  

            "Well I don't want to sleep," Hermione did not feel like being told what to do, "I am going to stay right here!"  She sat down on a couch.  

            "Oh will you?" asked Draco, his grey eyes holding a malicious glint.

            Hermione picked up on this, and braced herself as Draco began to walk up the stairs to the dorm.  He grabbed the banister and pulled while Hermione clung to the couch.  In the end, Hermione, being the lighter on the two ended up springing across the room and falling on Draco.  "I win" he said rather painfully.  

            Hermione grabbed her head, "We have got to stop colliding!"  She had been tired any ways and so did not object further; although she would have preferred not to have to stand outside the bathroom door for twenty minutes while Draco prepared himself for his beauty sleep.  Of course she retaliated by actually getting a shower before spending an extra fifteen minutes preparing for bed.  

            When she finally opened the bathroom door, she stared into the vexed face of Draco Malfoy, who looked like he indeed wanted to be sleeping.  "You just had to get a shower didn't you?"

            Hermione smiled superiorly as she crossed the room to her twin-sized bed.  Draco had an identical one about half the length of the room away, both had been bolted to the floor, to prevent the potion from hindering their sleep.  Hermione laid down on her bed issuing a counterfeit "Goodnight!"  

            "'Night Mudblood!"

            Hermione rolled over in her bed and wore a successful smile as she heard Draco tumble out of his own bed onto the floor.  Then she closed her eyes and went to sleep to the sound of Draco muttering angry words that suggested Hermione should go somewhere very unpleasant.  

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What did u think?  Did u like it?  Oh I have great ideas for this!!  Next chapter, they are going to face some problems!  I love knowing this!  So this fic is so much fun to write!  How's the reading?  Good?  I hope so! 

THANK YOU all for reviewing!!  I am so happy that you do!!  U guys are the best!!  I send my love to you all!!  But I g2g b/c I wanna post!!  

~Atiannala


	3. Morning

Disclaimer: Sadly it is not mine.

Morning

Hermione turned over n her bed; it was all so warm and comfortable. She loved snuggling under her covers early in the morning waiting for consciousness to return fully. Every thing was so peaceful-

All of a sudden there were crashes and bangs all around Hermione. She jumped up startled falling to the floor looking both scared and confused. 

Her eyes began to take in her environment. There was an entire drum line above her bed, the drums had been charmed to play themselves, and a tall blond was standing in the corner laughing. 

ÒDRACO MALFOY!!Ó Hermione was screaming. 

ÒYou should have seen your face!Ó

Hermione fostered an evil glint in her eye and put on a triumphant smirk, ÒWell you should see your hair.Ó

DracoÕs smile dropped and with wide eyes he ran to the bathroom. Hermione waited for-

ÒGRANGER WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY HAIR?!Ó

He walked out of the bathroom towards the brunette who was now the one laughing. ÒYou really do look better in pink than I thought you would.Ó

This comment made Draco even madder and his pale face began turning to a shade of red that clashed with his now pink hair. 

ÒYou really ought to control you temper, the red face doesnÕt really look right with the new Ôdo.Ó 

ÒTake it off!Ó he growled through clenched teeth.

ÒNow Draco,Ó Hermione said condescendingly, ÒJust because we share a room, doesnÕt mean IÕll have sex with you!Ó

But apparently the blond- or pink- haired boy didnÕt appreciate the sexual innuendo at this particular moment. Consequently, he advanced upon Hermione grabbing the shoulders of her nightshirt with his fists. 

ÒFIX MY HAIR!!Ó he growled. 

ÒIÕll think about it.Ó 

His grip relaxed a little and he let go of her shirt. She stood up, presumably to remove her charm, but began to walk towards the bathroom causing Draco to make inarticulate noises of protest and wonder. 

Hermione reached the door frame and holding on to it with her left hand, she looked back over that shoulder and said, ÒIÕm thinking about it,Ó in a very provocative manner complete with a small seductive smile before turning round and slinking into the bathroom and closing the door. 

She was fully aware of the fact that she was not the skinny little girl she was when she started this school. She also knew that many of the guys at Hogwarts, Slytherins included, had noticed this also. Hermione began to get ready until she felt that she had been in there just long enough to piss Draco off. Then she stayed for five more minutes before entering her room. 

Draco was standing in the middle of the rooms with his arms crossed over his chest, a sullen expression on his face. ÒWell.Ó

Hermione just smiled superiorly and walked over to where her school things were sitting. 

ÒIÕll hex you!Ó Draco threatened. 

Hermione looked up, pretending to consider this, ÒNo, no I donÕt think you will.Ó

ÒAnd why is that, pray tell.Ó

ÒBecause you obviously donÕt know how to lift the charm or you would have by now, and if you hex me, IÕm more likely to leave it on.Ó

Draco said nothing. 

Hermione picked up her stuff to leave; Hermione one, Draco zero. 

The two began to walk down to the Great Hall, Hermione triumphant and Draco scowling. 

When they entered the Great Hall, Hermione turned to look at the boy, ÒI think weÕll sit with my friends today shall we?Ó 

Again Draco said nothing but trudged over to the Gryffindor table behind the small brunette. 

Up at the teacherÕs table, Dumbledore watched on with a pleasant twinkle in his eyes. 

Professor McGonagall turned to Severus Snape and put an expecting hand out, ÒPay up.Ó 

Snape scowled but was a man of his word and reached into his robes and laid a knut into the outstretched palm of the Transfiguration teacher. ÒFine, but I bet Mr. Malfoy retaliates before lunch.Ó

The older woman pulled her hand slowly back in and raised an inquisitive eyebrow, ÒDo you? How much?Ó

After a breakfast throughout which Draco gave death glares to the Dream Team, he and Hermione were on their way to their Herbology class. The hadnÕt gotten very far when a girl walked up to Draco and pushed him hard in the chest. Draco staggered back a little, but Hermione who was much lighter fell to the floor receiving a look from the Slytherin that could have easily said ÒFreak!Ó But she had urgent business to attend to. 

ÒWhere the Hell were you yesterday?Ó

ÒYesterday?Ó

ÒYea you know, for Practice!Ó

Draco realized that he had missed the night beforeÕs Quidditch practice. ÔOh, IÕm sorry BlaiseÉÓ 

The girl cut him off, ÒYea you better be! And you better be at practice tomorrow! We have a game against Ravenclaw on Saturday and you need practice!Ó The angry Captain turned on her heel and left. 

Draco at first did nothing, but realization hit him, and he turned to Hermione who he hadnÕt seen on a broom since first year. ÒLooks like youÕre going for a ride.Ó 

Hermione looked up at him with her eyes wide full of trepidation. 

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yea, so itÕs a little short, but the next one is too long to add to it here. Plus I really wanted to post since it had been a while. But my old laptop broke, but I got a new one and iBook!!!!! It is amazing, and has been named Òmy precious!!Ó J but I loves it!! Yea, my school makes me have a laptop, and it is so nice! 

But I must go off and write my next chapter for ÒBehind Closed Doors!Ó its fun! ItÕs a Snape/Hermione! And I love it! You should read it! WellÉthere is only one chapter yet, but its good! 

Well I must leave now, but I love all of my reviewers!!!!!! Thank you guys!!!

~Atiannala


	4. Quidditch?

Disclaimer: I never have and I never will own it!

Quidditch?

Hermione stood up from the ground and looked the boy right in his pale grey eyes and said is as steady of a voice as she could muster, ÒFlying?Ó

ÒYeah, thereÕs not a problem with that is there?Ó he asked sneering.

Hermione had been able to control her broom just fine in her first year, so long as it didnÕt go more than five feet of the ground. Since no one really expected an eleven year old muggle-born to be a Quidditch star, Madam Hooch had let her off easy. She had not been on a broom since. Riding in Muggle elevators made her queasy! The though of being to apperate to where ever she needed to be instead of taking airplanes had been quite a comfort. And here was her archenemy asking her in an entirely sarcastic tone if she had a problem flying. 

ÒNo, not at all.Ó The statement was followed by a staring contest as each student probed the other for signs of weakness. 

ÒWell, Severus, it is lunch time and unless IÕm mistaken, you owe me three knuts this time?Ó 

Hermione had entered the Great Hall apparently in fine position followed close by the blond Slytherin. 

Professor Snape grumbled as he began to dig into his money bag for the second time that morning. He was looking for the last knut when he heard a familiarly cheeky voice addressing Minerva. 

ÒExcuse me Professor,Ó 

ÒYes Mr. Malfoy?Ó Snape watched in interest. 

ÒWell, I was wondering if you had an extra broom that we might be able to borrow.Ó

ÒA broom? What ever for?Ó

ÒWell Professor, I do play Quidditch and since I cannot get rid of Granger,Ó here he shot her one of the most lethal death glares ever used, ÒIt looks as if she is going to need a broom to fly on.Ó 

Professor Snape smiled, the entire faculty knew about Ms. GrangerÕs little problem with heights. 

ÒYes, IÕll send one up to you room with a house elf,Ó Minerva was slowly realizing what was happening. 

ÒThank you Professor.Ó The still pink haired boy walked away from the table followed by a distraught brunette. 

Snape turned to McGonagall his hand out stretched, ÒYou were saying Minerva?Ó 

Hermione stood on the Quidditch Pitch gripping the end of her broomstick as if her life depended on it. Malfoy was flying in circles around her head. Presently he had swooped down so he could taunt her. 

ÒCome on Granger! It canÕt be that hard for you to ride things, what with your hanging out with Potter and Weasely so much!Ó 

Hermione swung at him missing entirely. ÒTake that back!Ó she shouted. 

ÒWhy donÕt you come up here and make me?Ó 

ÒOoo!Ó Hermione really wanted to fly up and deck the boy, but her feet would not allow her to kick off the ground. She heard Malfoy sigh. 

In a moment, he had flown down so that his eyes were level with his own. Staring into her deep chocolate eyes, he began to speak. ÒI tried to let you do this the easy way, but it looks like you choose the hard path.Ó

He began to fly again. What did he mean? ÒMalfoy?Ó She realized that he had gone further than before. ÒMalfoy?Ó Her stomach began to get, that feeling. ÒMalfoy!Ó She could feel the elasticity almost snapping and finally letting go, ÒAAAAAAHH!!Ó Her high pitch shriek pierced the dusk. 

Malfoy kept going up, and Hermione kept clutching her broom, her eyes closed trying to push out the feelings of ascending and being hit by cold wind. Suddenly, she stopped and felt stable. Even though she thought better of it, she opened her eyes- big mistake! 

The ground was so far below her, that she was sure if she had a sickle in her hand, and she was willing to let go of her broom, she would be able to hide the entire Quidditch Pitch. 

Then she heard MalfoyÕs evil snicker. ÒOh, I didnÕt know they sold Mudbloods in various shades of green!Ó 

Hermione looked up sharply and glared at him, ÒTake that back you freaking ferret!Ó 

ÒMake me!Ó With that he took off soaring and whirling through the air, dragging a sickened Hermione behind him. 

The world began to flow very quickly around Hermione, a whirl of colors that began to stop taking any shape. Her head became light and her hands became so sweaty; her grip was so tight she could no longer feel the broom. And suddenly, it wasnÕt there. 

Malfoy was flying around doing all the tricks he could, flips, dives, doing everything at top speed, laughing manically the whole time. Quick glances behind him told him that Granger was about to get physically sick. He stopped in the air to laugh at the poor girls misfortune, when he felt a slight pull and realized his broom was going down. 

Draco looked down and felt his stomach tighten; Hermione was no longer on her broom, but plummeting towards the ground. 

He gripped his broom tightly and started to dive. He wasnÕt the seeker on the Slytherin Quidditch team for nothing; well he was actually seeker on the Slytherin team because his father was rich enough to buy supplies for the entire Quidditch team, but that was besides the point. He was fast and had a sure grip. 

He reached Hermione when she was about ten feet off the ground, grabbing her around the waist and sitting her on the broom in front of him and pulling up in his dive so he wouldnÕt crash into the ground. 

When he stopped, Hermione was sitting sidesaddle on the broom and some how, he didnÕt know if he pulled her there or if she had done it herself, had her head on his chest. Her body was violently shaking which, Draco was afraid, might push her off the broom of course. Draco put his other arm around her, so she wouldnÕt fall off the broom of course, and realized that the new movement of her body meant she was crying. 

Draco felt her small hands on his back and felt a strange sensation flowing through him. Curious as to what was happening, he reached his hand up and patted the no longer busy hair of the Gryffindor. 

ÒAre you okay?Ó 

He could feel her nod into his chest, and tightened his arms around her. 

ÒLets go.Ó

Again she nodded. Draco pulled one arm off of the girl and moved it to the handle of his broom. And began to move. Hermione shuddered and gripped him tighter. So he stopped. 

ÒIt will get you to the room faster, IÕll go slow, I promise.Ó

Hermione pulled him tighter, which he figured meant okay, so slowly he began to move, resting his chin on her head. As he went he began to realize something that he was not prepared to admit to himself. He took his chin off her head and proceeded on his way. 

When he got to the room, he set her down and walked over to his bed picking up a book. 

Hermione sat for a moment on the edge of her bed breathing heavily. When she was finally able to catch her breath, she looked up at the boy across the room. With a shaky and weak voice, she managed to say, ÒThank you, for catching me.Ó 

ÒYea, well donÕt flatter yourself,Ó he rolled over on his side so his back was to her, Òit would suck to be stuck to a rotting corpse for God only knows how long!Ó 

ÒOh,Ó was the only thing Hermione whispered. Then she got up and went to the bathroom to shower, forcing Draco to get off his bed. 

She came out about an hour later and was ready to go to bed, but Draco decided to take a shower. He walked into and out of the bathroom. 

ÒYou know IÕm getting sort of tired of this pink hair!Ó

Hermione rolled her eyes and flicked her wand in his direction. 

He nodded and walked into the bathroom before-

ÒGRANGER!!Ó Draco Malfoy stormed back into the room.

ÒWhat you donÕt like purple either?Ó

He began to shake his head furiously, ÒOh, okay, thatÕs just fine, just fine, Mudblood!Ó 

He went into the shower and took so long that Hermione actually fell asleep on her feet. As the bathroom was closer to DracoÕs bed than HermioneÕs so the arrangement suited Draco just fine. 

Hermione awoke the next morning on the floor in a crumpled ball. ÒJerk,Ó she muttered at MalfoyÕs supposedly sleeping form as she made her way to the bathroom. 

Draco turned over in his bed and waited for the sound that he so desperately wanted to hear. 

And then it came, a shriek followed by, ÒDRACO MALFOY, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY NOSE!!Ó 

Hermione stormed out of the bathroom and Draco was pretending to sleep again. 

ÒDonÕt even I know your up!Ó She pushed him and he snored quite loudly. ÒAlright Malfoy, you want to make my nose look like some witch from a muggle fairy tale? LetÕs just see what we can transfigure on you!Ó 

Draco opened his eyes to look at Hermione, whose nose was long and crooked, sporting warts and complete with a spider hanging of the tip by a thread. Would she do any thing? He didnÕt need to ask, for at that exact moment, he felt something shift in his boxers and ran to the bathroom eyes wide with fright. 

Hermione waited for what was sure to follow.

ÒSCALES?!?!Ó

Hermione snickered to herself. 

A couple of hours later, the two teens were in Potions sitting as far away form each other as possible. Hermione still had her fairy tale witch nose, but also now had, warts all over her hands, long black fingernails that grew every time she attempted to pick up her quill, and green hair which seemed to be supporting the life of many various creatures. Draco, still had purple hair and his scales, but he also had pink and blue polka dots all over his skin, a green unibrow, and a full orange beard and mustache that was discouraging any form of verbal communication. 

The PotionÕs master, after trying to figure out just who owed who money at this point decided that it was high time for action. He looked over his class of snickering, whispering students with disgust. 

ÒSILENCE!Ó

All noise in the classroom fell at the loud booming sound of the ProfessorÕs voice; his anger was evident. 

He briskly turned and stormed into the supply room returning moments later with a vial in his hand. 

ÒLetÕs find out whoÕs behind this little stunt shall we?Ó

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Well? Did we like? Yea this one got a little serious in the middle, but I see silly for a while, a long while, I just thought the broom thing was important. I like it, ne ways.

Next chapter is called Veritisum! Bet u could guess what might happen? But what will the reaction be? I have an inkling!! Yay! This will be fun! ::snicker snicker:: 

But yea, I am worried that my spelling (Veritisum) (the truth potion) might be a lil off, I could use some reinforcement! Help guys?

Ne wayz, I dedicate this entire story, to my wonderful, and amazing REVIEWERS!!!! I love you all!! Lots of love!! You guys are the best!!! You Rock!!

~Atiannala


	5. VERITASERUM

Disclaimer: I own it not!

VERITASERUM

Professor Snape stood in front of the room vile in hand malicious smile on his face. ÒLetÕs do this alphabetically then? Brown, first up.Ó

Lavender was in her chair shaking. 

ÒMiss Brown,Ó

She walked up to the front of the room and sat in the chair Snape was indicating next to her desk. 

ÒStick out your tongue,Ó Lavender did, and Snape dropped three drops of the liquid on her tongue. ÒNow, Miss Brown, I want you to tell me what you were ding the night before our last potionÕs class.Ó

The poor girl smiled brightly. ÒDean asked me to help him with charms, so I met him in an old classroom so we could practice, but we ended up getting in more snogging than studying!Ó 

Dean, who was sitting in the front of the room bright red, was now trying desperately to disappear under his desk. The potions master smirked at the repressed giggles from the rest of the class; the more students he could humiliate in the process, the better. 

As time progressed, the class made less of an effort to hide their snickers until finally the whole class was either roaring with laughter or slowly obtaining the complexion of a tomato. 

Even Hermione and Draco found it hard not to crack a smile, provided that they were not looking at each other of course. 

By the end of NevilleÕs particularly funny account of chasing his toad Trevor around only to have him jump up the skirt of a fourth year Ravenclaw who promptly slapped him before hexing his brains out, Professor McGonagall burst into the chaotic classroom.

ÒWHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?Ó she yelled exasperatedly as she took in first the sight of the students all but rolling on the ground in laughter and then the sight of the horribly deformed bodies of Hermione and Draco. ÒProfessor?Ó

ÒWe are simply trying to discover the identity of the culprit who switched Mr. MalfoyÕs potion,Ó Severus Snape explained putting on his best innocent act and raising more giggles from the students. 

Minerva looked around for a moment before saying, ÒOh, alright proceed,Ó and then in a lower and more confidential voice that only Snape could hear, ÒI put fifty sickles on Potter and Weasely.Ó 

_Damn! _She had beaten him to the punch. He looked at her with a scowl and whispered, ÒAs if we didnÕt know they were behind all of this!Ó

ÒThen why test all the students?Ó

A malicious smile crossed SnapeÕs lips and Minerva rolled her eyes. ÒBy the way you owe me five sickles for those two,Ó she said nodding her head towards the two rather colorful students in the second row. 

ÒPotter! YouÕre up!Ó Snape called. 

Harry walked nervously to the front of the classroom and waited as the professor put the drops on his tongue. 

ÒAnd what were you doing the night before our last potions class?Ó _As if we didnÕt already know_ the surly man added to himself.

Harry looked at the two professors who were staring intently at him, then at the class who were whipping away the tears of laughter in preparation for this new dose of comedy, and lastly t his best friend who was rather unrecognizable at the moment. 

He bit his lips.

ÒWell?Ó drawled his professor. He bit down harder to stop his mouth from flying open. 

ÒMr. Potter, we are all waiting,Ó said the old woman. 

Unfortunately it is impossible to plead the fifth when under the influence of Veritaserum, and Harry was fighting a loosing battle. He firmly clamped his hand over his mouth earning him suspicious looks from both professors. 

But as the unlucky boy continued to resist, he began to involuntarily shake and turn brilliant shades of red that bordered on purple. 

ÒNow, now, Potter. Out with it!Ó the Potions Master ordered. 

Try as he might he could not resist the truth potion, and a moment, his body jumped into the air and landed on the floor, popping his mouth open. And the second his mouth flew open, a scream flared out-

ÒI WAS MAKING A BINDING POTION THAT I PLANNED TO PUT INTO MALFOYÕS CAULDRON THE NEXT DAY!Ó

After that many things happened all at once. Many students gasped and began to whisper, Ron fainted- apparently the suspense of waiting for Harry to talk had been too much for him, and Hermione jumped to her feet pulling a startled Malfoy forward. 

ÒYOU!Ó she screamed accusingly. 

ÒMione IÕm sorry, I didnÕt know. IÉÓ 

But Hermione was not listening, but had run from the room, a stumbling Malfoy in tow. She did not stop until she could no longer run, and collapsed in a random hallway hiding her face in her knees because of the tears that were threatening her eyes. All she could think of was that her best friend was responsible for her current suffering. And as she cried, the spider that had been dangling from the tip of her nose retreated back to the top of her nose causing her to cry even harder. 

Draco stood above her catching his breath; but when it had steadied, he heard the quiet sobs of the girl beneath him. There was not much in this world that could make Malfoy feel uncomfortable, but a crying girl did the trick quite nicely. He had no idea how to stop the blubbering and usually would walk away. 

But alas, this time Draco could not walk away; he was stuck. Not one to hide from his problems, he decided he would face this. He sat down beside the sobbing girl and touched her back awkwardly and immediately retracted his hand; the feeling was on to which he was not accustom and did not favor. Taking a deep breath, he spoke-

ÒCome on Hermione, donÕt cry.Ó

The girl was too intent on her crying to even notice the use of her first name. After a few more pleas for her to stop, Draco decided that this approach was not working. He stuck his hand under her chin and lifted her head, ÒEnough!Ó 

Hermione, now face to face with the boy ceased her tears. ÒIÕm sorry itÕs just that, well, heÕs my best friend, and-Ó but she was cut of by the laughter of the boy in front of her. ÒStop it! ItÕs not funny Ferret Face.Ó

Draco grabbed a handle on his laughter before he spoke. ÒNo, its not itÕs justÉ well could you contain your laughter looking at me?Ó and with that he gave her the cheesiest smile ever, revealing a row of yellow, decaying, crocked teeth. Hermione looked at the boy with green unibrow and his full orange beard and couldnÕt help herself. 

After a few moments of laughter and a couple minutes of incantations, both children were back to looking normal. 

ÒSo what did you have in mind for those two tow-headed best friends of yours?Ó

Hermione smiled evilly, ÒI thought youÕd never ask!Ó

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Guess what happens next! BWAH HA HA HA!! I get to think up evil plots!! But if you want to help, give me some maliciously funny ideas, and I am going to try to combine a bunch! Ooo! I think IÕm onto something, in this beady little brain of mine! It is so evil! 

THANK YOU to all my beautiful, wonderful, special, lovely, amazing, talented, splendiferous, super, fabulous, awesome, and terrific reviewers! I love you guys! You make this all worth it! 

I do have a mailing list I send out when I update, if you want to be on it, just tell me your e-mail address if you are not sending a signed review. Bye for now!!

~Atiannala


	6. LET THE GAMES BEGIN

HEY GUYS!! Sorry this took so long!! I had exams, and then I had to work every day over the holiday, and then I have had mad amounts of work inn every class. We just read Heart of Darkness in three days as well as reading three short stories, combined with the face that basketball season just started and I haven't gotten home before 10 pm any night in the past week! Then I have to start my homework! I haven't slept in ages! I cannot wait for December 19! Xmas break!! But I think I have to read another book before then. Oh, and I had to read Gideon's Trumpet which is a boring book about a trial that happened forty years ago in Florida, well the appeal process neways. But I just had an anatomy test on the bones in the skull about five minutes age. (do u know how many bones are in the skull? Its crazy!) but neways, I'll stop whining and let you read now. ENJOY!  
  
Disclaimer: If it were mine.. No! That's too scary even for my brain to process! ^_^  
  
LET THE GAMES BEGIN  
  
"Are you sure you weren't supposed to be in Slytherin?"  
  
Draco was staring at the brunette sitting beside him on his bed, her scheme running through his brain. It was positively.evil.  
  
The girl laughed, "You think a Slytherin could plot something like that? Who do you think you're kidding," and with a shift in tone to a softer more mocking voice, "Besides, a Slytherin would never have the guts to pull it off!"  
  
Draco tried to glare at the boasting Gryffindor, but found that offense was not exactly the emotion filling him right then. He was expirencing something which he immediately decided would be best to disregard, and moved his eyes away from the girl.  
  
"But still I wasn't expecting something like this from.from you!"  
  
Hermione laughed, a deep throated sound that sent tingles through Draco's body, and repositioned herself so she was leaning her weight forward on her hands that were resting on the bed. A mock look on innocence dawned on the girl's face as she looked up at Draco with her big brown eyes and said, "Hermione Granger, perfect little Head Girl would never think of something like that." All the while, Draco found that his eyes kept inadvertently shifting to Hermione's bottom lip which, he noticed, was sticking out slightly more than it would have normally.  
  
Draco swallowed.hard.  
  
Hermione, not noticing her effect on the boy, sat back and said in her normal voice, "Besides, did you really think Harry came up with half his schemes on his own?"  
  
Draco, by now having regained composure laughed. "No, I suppose that Potter wouldn't have even been able to pronounce Polyjuice in second year, let alone brew it."  
  
Hermione fixed the blond with a look of shock causing more laughter on Draco's part. With one finger, Draco pushed up on Hermione's chin closing her mouth, which had opened slightly when he last spoke, and leaned close to he speaking in a whisper, "Just between us, Granger, you friends are a couple of lousy actors!"  
  
It was Hermione's turn to find it hard to swallow. For a moment, she thought Draco was going to kiss her; and for a moment, she thought she would let him.  
  
But this thought of kissing a Malfoy were strictly forbidden in the Gryffindor Law, article two section four. Well, the law was more like an understanding: no one would be caught dead snogging a Malfoy, and any one who happened to be the unfortunate witness to this event had every and all rights to hex some sense back into the victim.  
  
Putting her mind back to her brilliance, Hermione sat up straight, shimming slightly to pull herself to her highest height, and said, "If you think the plan is good now, you should hear the rest of it!"  
  
Draco was startled, "There's more?!"  
  
This time Hermione leaned in towards Draco, using her finger to close his mouth.  
  
"You have no idea!"  
  
A malicious smile appeared on Draco's face.  
  
It was a good thing that the dream team had been able to convince Mad-Eye Moody that it was important for them to know the Disillusionment Charm for security reasons. It hadn't taken very long for Hermione to make both her and Draco blend in with their surroundings. But, Draco was still sore at having to miss some of his precious beauty sleep.  
  
"So why exactly do we have to do this now?"  
  
"Because Malfoy, for this charm to work properly, it has to be done while the victim is sleeping."  
  
"Victim.I like the sound of that!"  
  
Hermione elbowed Draco in the chest.  
  
"No fair! I couldn't see that coming! There was no way to defend myself!"  
  
This was answered by another blow to the chest. "Shut up wouldja? Were here!"  
  
Draco grumbled, but complied. Soon they were standing before Fire Crotch and the Boy Wonder as they slept. Many thoughts came flooding to Draco's mind of what kind of mean and evil things he could do as the two lay there defenseless, but a whisper interrupted his thoughts. Hermione was saying the words to her spell.  
  
From the sounds of it, it was quite old and quite complicated. He found himself wondering if he would even be able to cast it. After half a moment, a glowing yellow light encircled both sleeping boys, and slowly seeped into them.  
  
"That's it? You woke me up for that?"  
  
Hermione clasped her hand over Draco's mouth- her time fighting with Harry against darkness had sharpened her senses or else she never would have been able to tell his mouth from his elbow. As it was, Hermione clamped her hand on the spot she heard the noise emanating from.  
  
A groan and shuffle from one of the beds told Draco that he had been too loud, and the two should get out now. The hand was removed from his mouth, and trailed down his body until it found his wrist. Draco tried to ignore the jump he felt when Hermione's hand slid slowly down his neck and arm. There was no gentleness in the touch however, Hermione clamped her hand over Draco's wrist and pulled him out of the room and back to their own.  
  
Draco was sitting in potions with his head on his arm fighting the sleep that was threatening him. It was bad enough that they stayed up half the night planning a scheme and then had to wake up at four o'clock in the morning to put the plan into action, but then the two dunderheads had slept through breakfast and were not even in potions yet. But a sound at the back of the classroom would soon cheer him up.  
  
Turning to look at the back of the room, Draco was soon taken by the urge to laugh, but repressed it to keep away any suspicion.  
  
Two Gryffindors rushed into the room, and tried to sit unnoticed. 'Let the games begin,' Draco caught his mind saying.  
  
Professor Snape rounded on the boys, "Mr. Potter," he began, "Can you tell me precisely what was so important that you had to miss twenty minutes of my class?"  
  
"Uh, well you see, I um.what I mean to say is."  
  
"Mr. Potter," Snape continued in his cold drawl, "Perhaps if you know the material well enough to miss my class, you might be able to teach your peers?"  
  
"Excuse me sir?"  
  
"You heard me Mr. Potter, to the front of the room now." Snape watched as a rather nervous bespectacled boy walked to the front of the room. 'How I love to see them squirm,' he thought. "Now, Mr. Potter, explain to the rest of the class, what are the dangers associated with brewing a sleep inducing potion, and from what point in the process do they arise?"  
  
Harry stood up at the front of the room knowing nothing about the potion. His gaze shifted from person to person. His audience began to whisper; he knew they were talking about him. He could see the weird looks he was getting, but all of a sudden, Neville pointed at Harry with shocked eyes and said, "What is he doing?"  
  
The look of boredom that had generally characterized the expression of the students before changed now to every thing from disgust to condescending, from shocked to hysterical. Lavender Brown fainted while Parviate covered her mouth and gaped in horror. Hermione mimicked this gesture, but more to keep her friend from seeing her laugh at his expense, but Draco made no show of hiding his mocking laughter-  
  
"Look everyone! Potter's in his skivvies!"  
  
Draco's voice echoed throughout the room rising above the crowd. Harry heard it, and fought the urge to look down, but he had to, he had to know. The brilliant green eyes looked down to find that he was clad in nothing but an old pair of what once had been tighty-whities, but had now taken on a rather dingy gray appearance.  
  
"Eww! Doesn't he ever wash those?" a female voice called out from the Slytherin side of the room.  
  
Harry bent down and tried to cover himself up a bit, but in the process, bent too far and fell landing with his scantily clad gluteal region exposed to the entire class.  
  
The room burst out into more cries of laughter, shock, and horror, and an embarrassed raven-haired boy fled the room only to cause more laughter.  
  
But as if he hadn't been unfortunate enough already, the bell to end class rang as Harry was just emerging from the dungeons.  
  
The hallways filled with unsuspecting students, as Harry ran past then trying to get to the Gryffindor common room as soon as possible with sounds of "What the.?" ringing in his ears.  
  
Harry sat on his bed curled into a fetal position, not bothering to clothe himself. He was now safe in the confines of his bed curtains. It had been here that he had had that dream numerous times, the dream where he re-visited that pensive that he had looked into back in his fifth year. But at the end of the dream, it turned out to be him, and the faces, his schoolmates, laughing at him.  
  
It had been like that today. He had lived it, the dream. It haunted him in his guilt and pity until finally he was forced to live it. The shame was greatest of them all, yet not the shame of what happened to him that day, the shame of knowing that his own father had been responsible for the same thing happening over twenty years ago; the same thing to a man who saw the whole thing today.  
  
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Well, the end came out a bit heavier than I intended, but I think that's just fine. Well I will make the next one purely silly, as well as clarify what spell precisely Hermione used. I don't particularly like this chapter, and I wrote parts over about fifty times. It just was never good enough. Well I hope it was alright. I have been under a lot of stress lately, and it's been hard to get the chapter done.  
  
Well, I hope you liked it, and the next one will be better, I promise! I already have some wildly funny ideas. Its great! Poor Ron! He'll never know what hit him! * insert evil laugh here * I also how I am going to fix the Quidditch problem.  
  
THANK YOU!!!! TO ALL OF THE WONDERFUL REVIEWERS!!! I LOVE YOU, I LOVE YOU MORE, AND I LOVE YOU ONCE AGAIN!!! 


	7. SMACK

Disclaimer: Don't own it, never will.  
  
SMACK  
  
"So what you're telling me is that Wonder Boy has dreams about standing naked in front of a class? What an idiot!"  
  
Hermione elbowed the blond hard in the rib cage knocking most of the wind from his chest.  
  
"Ow! What the hell was that for?"  
  
"If I had known that that was Harry's dream, I wouldn't have given him that potion!"  
  
"Hold up! Wait a minuet!" Draco turned around and grabbed Hermione's shoulders and tried to look her in the eyes. "You're talking about the same kid that is responsible for this whole mess, and YOU feel bad for HIM?"  
  
Hermione sighed, "We are also talking about my BEST friend! Honestly Malfoy, wouldn't you feel bad if you hurt one of your friends?"  
  
Draco's eyes went to the floor.  
  
"Oh," Hermione searched her brain for something to say.  
  
Draco let his hands drop.  
  
"Harry feels bad for what he did anyways, I know he does, and what I did was totally out of line."  
  
Draco snorted, "And for a moment I had been envious of your scheming!"  
  
"Hey! Don't knock MY abilities, at least all my plans work successfully, I don't recall any of yours working, well, ever."  
  
"Hey," Draco walked closer to her, so that she was forced to look up at him, "PLENTY of my plans have worked!"  
  
"Oh really?" Hermione asked playfully jutting her chin out slightly in the process causing her lips to come rather close to Draco's- which was painfully noticeable to the tall boy. "Just which plans exactly?"  
  
Draco's stomach tightened as he was caught by the contradictory desire to grab her and kiss her passionately. Whether it was out of defiance or attraction, he did not know, but the desire held him nonetheless. Fortunately, his thoughts were broken by a small gasp from the girl.  
  
"Oh, my god! Ron!"  
  
The two teens ran down the corridors to the Great Hall where every one was eating lunch at the time. Multiple screams coming from the way the large doors. Pushing through the heavy doors, the two were greeted by a scene of chaos.  
  
Most of the girls and a few of the boys were screaming and running across the hall. There were a few people that were standing up frozen white with terror, and a few other bodies laid unconscious on the floor. The teachers were walking around trying unsuccessfully to maintain a state of calm.  
  
In the center of everything was Ron, shaking, white, and sweating, surrounded by spiders that were crawling out of the food dishes and out of the walls.  
  
"I'm a horrible, horrible person!"  
  
"Can't disagree with you there."  
  
"I just terrified both of my best friends."  
  
"Yup."  
  
"I am a terrible friend!"  
  
"Yes, you are."  
  
"I failed as a person!"  
  
"You sure did."  
  
"Oh shut up!"  
  
Draco found that a pillow had collided with his head. "Oh, would you stop! They will be fine again by tomorrow. Both have faced worse: trolls, Dark Lords, you on a bad hair day..."  
  
Hermione pointed her wand at Draco. "WATCH IT!"  
  
"Hermione," Draco went on in his smooth voice, "All I am saying is that we have bigger things to worry about at the time being."  
  
"Like what?"  
  
"I'm sure you know what tomorrow is."  
  
"Tomorrow?"  
  
"Tomorrow is the first Quidditch match of the season."  
  
"Holy Crap!"  
  
"Exactly! But luckily for you, I have been thinking of such things lately. Now, you can't ride you own broom and riding mine would put me at a disadvantage, so I came up with something else."  
  
Draco held up a small box.  
  
"What is that?"  
  
He smiled. "This is the solution to all our problems."  
  
Hermione gave him a skeptical look.  
  
"Okay, its really simple. All you have to do is go in the box. Then I will put the box in my pocket and everything will be alright."  
  
"Go in the box?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"That box?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Go in... that box?"  
  
"Yes what don't you get about going in the box."  
  
"Well the fact that my hand wouldn't fit in the box is a start!"  
  
"Oh that, that's easy. You just have to let me shrink you."  
  
"Shrink me?"  
  
"Yeah, shrink you."  
  
"Malfoy I wouldn't trust you to carry my books, and you think I would let you shrink me?"  
  
The blond pretended to think for a moment before putting on an innocent expression. "Yes."  
  
"No! Out of the question!"  
  
"What choice do you have?"  
  
Hermione wished she could fight that but knew it was a loosing battle, and that it was in fact a good idea. "FINE!" She yelled.  
  
Draco was just sitting down with a triumphant smile when he noticed a look that he did not particularly like crossing Hermione's face. "What are you doing?"  
  
Hermione walked over to him and put her hands on both sides of his legs leaning low over him so that she was right in his face and said in a low dangerous voice, "Thinking of all the ways I will get you back if anything goes wrong."  
  
Draco smirked. "With that in mind, maybe I'll leave you tiny forever."  
  
"I don't think you'd want to do that."  
  
Draco was finding himself strangely aroused and cursed his body for reacting to something his mind knew he shouldn't. "And why is that?"  
  
"Because if you leave me little, I am pretty sure you will find something else on you that is...little!"  
  
"You wouldn't!"  
  
"Wouldn't I?"  
  
In a wave of impulse, Draco grabbed Hermione and flung her onto the bed. "That wouldn't be very fun for you now would it?"  
  
Hermione reacted in two very contradicting ways she laughed and she slapped him across the face.  
  
"Oww!"  
  
"You deserved it!"  
  
With that, Hermione got up and walked to the bathroom.  
  
Draco began to muse about the new ease that he felt with Hermione; it was a strange and new sensation that he- despite himself- rather enjoyed.  
  
During his musings, Hermione walked out and caught him deep in thought. "Don't strain yourself, I don't wanna have to clean up the mess when your head explodes."  
  
"Blow me!" he replied in a very disinterested and withdrawn manner.  
  
"It's far to easy to choke on small objects."  
  
So she wanted to go there did she?  
  
Hermione saw the look on Draco's face with its dangerous expression. This was not going to be good. His smirk was devilish in a playful way.  
  
"Choke this!" he exclaimed as he pounced on the brunet.  
  
In a whirl of screams and body parts, the two teens fell to the floor. There was a slight struggle where Hermione pushed her way trying to get to the top, but was inevitability pinned beneath Draco's body.  
  
Hermione shoved his chest laughing. "Get off!"  
  
"That sounded really convincing," the boy muttered sarcastically, "I think you like it!"  
  
Hermione's face all at once took on a different look, a strange one that made Draco curious and nervous, and allowed Hermione to push him over slowly onto his back. "You know," she began in a voice that Draco was far huskier than the last thing she said, "I think you might be right."  
  
Draco swallowed hard; he was now on his back, Hermione's hand firmly but gently pushing on his chest.  
  
"I just might like it," one of her slender legs crept over Draco's rousing body followed by her hips and body as she now sat on top of him straddling him. "In fact," she bent down very close to him very slowly, leaving her lips so they were just above his. "I might like it a lot."  
  
Draco was in the process of wrapping his arms around her slim waist and preparing himself for the kiss he felt was sure to come when Hermione began to laugh suddenly. Confused, Draco looked up at the brunette who was now sitting up but still straddling him. "So the infamous Draco Malfoy can be controlled?"  
  
Realizing her whole seduction bit was naught but a ploy and forgetting their curse in his anger, shoved the girl as hard as he could away from him only to late remembering about their binding.  
  
Draco closed his eyes preparing for the impact, and soon enough, the girl came falling back against him. When they all seemed settled, Draco opened his eyes to see what sort of tangle they had gotten into this time.  
  
It was that same moment that Hermione opened her eyes, which had also been shut in fear of collision. Half a second was all it took for the two teens to realize that their lips were firmly pressed together before they both push against each other in horror trying to get as far away from the other as possible; a course of action that only resulted in many more small collisions.  
  
"Go away!" Hermione shouted in frustration.  
  
"As much as I'd LOVE to, I can't! Remember, those knuckle brain friends of yours switched my potion with one that has me bound to a stupid Mudblood for Merlin only know how long!"  
  
Draco found his words answered by a slap across the face that burned and stung stronger than it ever had before.  
  
Looking down at the floor, from the force of the impact, Draco heard the bathroom door slam. Hermione had managed to free herself of their tangle. Draco's face wasn't the only thing that was hurting.  
  
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ IM SO SORRY!!!!! I know I haven't updated in a WHILE, like a long WHILE, but I've been busy! So crazy! But it's here and I'm starting the next chapter now, and I have lots of plot stuff ready. Okay here I go.  
  
Thank you guys for reviewing and sticking with me. Sorry for the wait, with work and cheerleading and school (6 AP's!) and college applications I have had hardly any time. Hope you enjoyed it! Love you!  
  
~Atiannala 


	8. Game, Set, Match

Disclaimer: I don't own it.  
  
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I wanted to address something before I begin. I AM A RED HEAD! Okay might not make sense to every one yet, so let me explain. I got a review telling me it was offensive for Draco to call Ron fire crotch. Thank you, that was the point!! As a red head, I know how particularly annoying this comment is, which is precisely why I used it! Had you been a muggle-born wizard, Mudblood would offend you too! And lets get the fact straight that Draco and Ron are not friends! Had you left an e-mail address, I would have replied to you and apologized nicely, but since you decided to be a coward and not leave your email, I got pissed. So I'm gonna make fun of your stupid comment instead! Can you be any dumber? Name-calling is MEANT to offend you opponent/victim! Do you think that Draco Malfoy honestly thinks of comments that won't be too offensive? OBVIOUSLY NOT IF HE CALLS HERMIONE MUDBLOOD WHICH IS A RACIST TERM! OR DID YOU MISS THE MEMO ON THAT ONE? Stupid! Honestly! I don't think that there has been one red head ever that hasn't gotten that comment, or question, or reference. Yes, it's stupid, yes it offends people, THAT'S WHY I USED IT!! Grow up a bit! The world is not going to censor its everyday life to make YOU feel comfortable! If I want to call Ron Weasley a FIRE CROTCH, then I will damn well call him a FIRE CROTCH! I'm going to stop before I say something that ought not to appear in a PG-13 story.  
  
And now that I have vented a bit... on to the theater!  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Game, Set, Match  
  
He sat on the edge of her bed looking at her while she slept. It was strange that a creature he had hated so much could produce such an effect on him. Although he would never say it out loud, he was really beginning to enjoy her company. She was wittier than he had given her credit for and confident.  
  
He remembered the last few days they had shared, the way she looked when she smiled and taunted him. Sure they still passed insults, but they didn't cut like they normally did. It was remarkable, but the most remarkable thing was that Draco was feeling something that he had never experienced before.  
  
The feeling was in his chest. It was almost as if there were some force stopping his ribs from expanding completely. This oddity had begun right after he had been hit, and increased the whole time Hermione had refused to speak to him the rest of the night. It hurt now worse than ever.  
  
Not caring much for the discomfort in his ribs, Draco wandered over to his own bed and closed his eyes cursing feelings. He hadn't meant to call her a Mudblood; it had just sort of slipped out. But he felt bad nonetheless.  
  
That night his dreamed a strange dream in which he was wandering through a field alone under a grey sky.  
  
Hermione was the first to wake in the morning, and a night's sleep had done little to improve on her mood. She was angry at Draco for calling her a Mudblood and angry at herself for letting it offend her so much. There was nothing she would like to do more than take hold of her pillow and tear it in two. But she needed her pillow and revenge would be much better channeled at other targets.  
  
After a few seconds, Hermione had conjured up a large bucked of water, icy water. Smirking, she levitated the bucket right over the face of her sleeping roommate.  
  
At first, she only let a drop spill, then another, much in the fashion of Chinese water torture. Draco shifted uncomfortably in his sleep. It was time. The bucket, which was of course enchanted to never be empty, tipped over spilling icy water all over Draco's head.  
  
The blond sat up screaming only to have his mouth filled with icy water as well. When he got up and ran to the bathroom, the bucket followed him.  
  
Draco began to fire all sorts of curses at the bucket but it would not cease its offensive. Finally he ran screaming from the bathroom.  
  
"Make it stop!"  
  
Hermione took a deep breath, "No."  
  
"Why the hell not?"  
  
"Because."  
  
This made Draco even more angry, so choosing the most logical path he jumped on top of the brunet who was still laying in her bed.  
  
She shrieked and then cried, "Get off!"  
  
"Turn off the bucket!"  
  
"Draco!"  
  
"NOW!"  
  
"FINE!"  
  
The bucket stopped spewing water leaving the two teens sitting shivering next to each other on the bed. The empty bucket fell to the floor, but not before it hit Draco squarely on the head.  
  
"OW! What the blazes was that for?"  
  
"I'm mad at you!"  
  
Draco looked down at the bed. He could do it; it might not be as painful as he always thought it would be. It might be better after that. There was always the fact that he needed her agreeable with him for the game that hay; he could always blame it on that if it went poorly.  
  
The blond muttered something.  
  
"Pardon?"  
  
Draco looked up with an expression that let Hermione know this was something to which he was unaccustomed. As their eyes locked he took a deep breath, "I'm sorry," he quickly broke eye contact before continuing in a rushed voice, "I really didn't mean anything by it. I was aggravated that I couldn't stand up. But I wasn't aggravated at you. I was aggravated at the curse. I don't know why I called you that. I don't really think that, not any more. Not that I mean to say I like you or like spending time with you. But I don't mean that it's all that bad either. No, I mean, it's not so bad as I thought it would be to be stuck with you. Not that I enjoy having you around all the time. But I..."  
  
Hermione who had been watching the trembling of his bottom lip, attributing it to his wet cold clothes and becoming increasingly aware of her own, placed a hand on his arm. "Draco..."  
  
Both teens looked at the connection of her hand and his arm as a slightly uncomfortable feeling passed between the two before they both looked up and grey eyes locked with brown ones.  
  
Hermione sensed that Draco was truly sorry, as she could tell he didn't apologize everyday, or any day really. She wondered what all his ramblings were about but didn't ask at the moment. "It's okay."  
  
"Really?" his face brightened and she could feel hers doing the same.  
  
"Really, I forgive you."  
  
For a moment, a heavy silence filled the room  
  
"Hermione..."  
  
"Yes?" she asked.  
  
"Are we friends?"  
  
She seemed taken by his question. "I... I don't know. I've never thought about it before. Would you like to be friends?"  
  
"I don't think I have ever had any REAL friends before. Just people who associate with me because their fathers associates with my father whose father in turn associated with their grandfathers, and their fathers before them and so on. It must be nice to have friends."  
  
Hermione felt a flood of emotions over come her, although pity, the one she would have expected was not one of them. She allowed herself to be filled by so many feelings that she could not even begin to verbalize what they were.  
  
Then she did something that took her by surprise almost as much as her blond counterpart: she hugged him.  
  
"You do have a friend."  
  
It was a second before Draco reacted, but then he pulled her in and held her tightly. It felt good, better than any thing he had ever felt before, but he didn't know why or understand what for. He also didn't understand why something so good made him want to cry.  
  
Immediately he was uncomfortable and needed to break the seriousness of this. It was all too much. Finally, the Slytherin smirk graced his face.  
  
"Hermione, friends are honest with each other right?"  
  
She sat up and pulled away nodding. "Yes."  
  
"Then, as a friend, I feel it is my duty to tell you... that you should probably get a new shirt."  
  
Hermione looked down and realized in horror, that icy water and white tank tops Did not mix.  
  
Draco laughed as her face turned a light shade of scarlet and she froze. Then he playfully pounced her.  
  
"Oof! Oww! Get up your too fat!" she said.  
  
Draco in response pretended to snore.  
  
"Okay, ha, it's funny, now let me get up. I have to change my shirt. Draco, Draco!" his breathing was becoming heavy and she realized that he actually was falling asleep. "Oh no! You are getting up! You're done! Draco!"  
  
shifting around under him, she got a good grip and shoved him tumbling to the floor just before...  
  
"Oh crap!"  
  
~*%*CRASH*%*~  
  
Draco looked up from underneath the girl. "We have got to stop doing that!"  
  
"You ready?"  
  
"No!"  
  
"Good."  
  
"Now relax, stay calm."  
  
"Easy for you to stay, in two minutes you are still going to be six feet tall!"  
  
"You were never six feet tall anyways."  
  
"Well I was a lot taller than five inches!"  
  
"Not really."  
  
Hermione slapped Draco's arm playfully making an 'angry' face.  
  
"Okay go."  
  
"You sure?"  
  
"Yes. Quick now, before I change my mind!"  
  
Hermione could feel herself growing smaller, or maybe everything else was just getting bigger. Well, whichever way it was, she grew so tiny that she could step into Draco's hand.  
  
"Aww, your rather cute that size. Just think we could get you a little doll house and dress up clothes..."  
  
Hermione stamped her foot to let him know she did not appreciate the comments.  
  
"Okay, I suppose I will turn you back after the game."  
  
A curt nod from Hermione's little head was all he got. He helped Hermione climb into the box and placed it in his left breast pocket. Show time.  
  
It wasn't raining, but it was overcast making it almost impossible to see the golden bugger. He kept having to strain his eyes to try to get a glimpse of it. At least the Ravenclaw seeker was new; Cho had graduated the year before.  
  
He watched as the girl ducked nervously as bludgers passed her, and knew that she was frightened that it was nervous being her first game and all. Quite an unworthy opponent. Nothing like Potter. But he would play Potter soon, and he would crush him!  
  
Focusing back on the game, Draco began to look around for the Snitch. Stupid little... there! There it was! Draco made a dive and caught the Snitch just two and a half feet above the ground.  
  
"SLYTHERIN WINS 230 TO 60."  
  
A groan rose up from the stands from all but the Slytherins who cheered happily.  
  
"Stupid prats!" Harry said.  
  
"Wouldn't be surprised if they cheated!" Ron added.  
  
"Ron!" Of course his sister had to reprimand him for his unsportsmanlike like conduct.  
  
Back in the Slytherin locker room Draco began to change.  
  
"Great game!"  
  
"Ravenclaw didn't have a chance!"  
  
"Not with our Draco here!"  
  
"We thought we were going to have to get a replacement for you Draco. Woulda been terrible, two untrained seekers in one game!"  
  
"Was it horrible having to be stuck to a Mudblood?"  
  
"I couldn't have done it!"  
  
"Woulda killed myself!"  
  
"Woulda killed her!"  
  
The room was filled with laughter until Draco slammed his locker and left.  
  
"Wonder what crawled up his arse!"  
  
Draco took Hermione out of his pocket and made her large again. Before he stalked off to the shower. Quidditch had always exhausted him, and he was dead tired.  
  
About forty-five minutes later, he stumbled half conscious out of the bathroom and into his bed.  
  
Hermione sighed, "I bet he used up all the hot water too! Oh well." Being in the pocket of a sweating Quidditch player was not exactly the most pleasant experience one might wish for.  
  
Draco had fallen asleep but woke up soon after.  
  
"Curses!"  
  
Walking to the bathroom to relieve himself used up far too much energy. But it was this or wet the bed. Draco stumbled to the bathroom half asleep, but a shrill shriek woke him up quickly.  
  
When he had opened the door, he had come face to face, with a dripping wet Hermione who was in the process of pulling her towel of the rack. He was struck by the shock and unable to look take his eyes off of Hermione, that is until everything went black.  
  
Hermione watched as Draco stumbled and fell as she was pulled to him still wrapping up in her towel.  
  
Moaning, Draco sat up. "Wha...what happened?"  
  
"I'm sorry Draco, it was the first curse that came to my mind."  
  
"So I'm not dead?"  
  
Hermione laughed, "Good gods no!"  
  
"Blind then?"  
  
"Err... Sort of. You see, I put a magic blindfold over your eyes so you wont be able to see until it wears off."  
  
"How long will that be?"  
  
"Oh, not too long, that is to say, maybe one, two, five, seven hours?"  
  
Draco groaned.  
  
"But you'll be sleeping!"  
  
"I still have to pee!"  
  
"Whine about it some more why don'tcha?"  
  
Hermione helped the boy stand up and lead him to the bathroom. "Just um, call for me when you're um, done." She quickly exited the room and traded her towel for pajamas.  
  
"Hermione!"  
  
"Right here."  
  
Hermione lead Draco back to his bed, helped him lay down, and pulled the covers up over his chest.  
  
Draco reached up and touched her shoulder, a faint smile on his lips.  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"Nothing," he said quickly and turned his face from her.  
  
"It is so something, so tell me!"  
  
"You wouldn't understand."  
  
"Try me!"  
  
"Are you always such an infernal, persistent, git?"  
  
"mmmm... only when I don't get what I want."  
  
Draco laughed.  
  
"So you gonna tell me?"  
  
The blond sighed knowing he was fighting a losing battle. "You'll think me silly."  
  
"I already do."  
  
"You'll think me childish then."  
  
"I wont I promise."  
  
"And it would be terribly embarrassing for people to know."  
  
"What people, it's just me."  
  
Draco tried to stop the small smile that threatened to cross his face, but only did it after Hermione had seen its makings.  
  
"It's just that... well for a moment, I was reminded of when I was little, and my grandmother use to tuck me in. She would kiss my cheek and say, 'Goodnight Draco.'" He was quiet for a moment. "I miss her."  
  
Hermione was not certain why she did the next thing that she did other than it felt right to do. She bent over and kissed Draco on the cheek. "Goodnight Draco."  
  
Draco stirred in his sleep and rolling over while stretching opened his eyes. And then he tried again. And then once more. The blond boy sat straight up as a high-pitched scream that brought his roommate staggering to his bed.  
  
"What's the matter?"  
  
"I can't see!"  
  
"Still?"  
  
"What do you mean by still?"  
  
"Why, last night I hexed you blind; you don't remember?"  
  
"Vaguely."  
  
"I thought you'd be better by now."  
  
"Why when is it?"  
  
"Well, History of Magic begins in forty minutes."  
  
"WHAT?"  
  
"We can fix this..."  
  
"Fix it? FIX IT! I'm blind how can we fix it?"  
  
"Can you really see nothing?"  
  
"No I can't.. wait!...light, there's a light!"  
  
"See it's coming back already!"  
  
It was for this reason- and this reason only- that Hermione and Draco proceeded into the corridors twenty-five minutes later arm in arm. Hermione was acting as Draco's eyes. Her own eyes hadn't neglected to take in how perfectly toned his chest was as she buttoned his oxford for him that morning. And she tried to ignore the funny feeling that crept over her when she tied his tie for him.  
  
It was not long however, before Hermione's musings were interrupted by two blubbering idiots that the world could have dealt with out.  
  
She groaned as Pansy Parkinson and Millicent Bodstrode came around the corner.  
  
"What?" Draco asked his ears picking up.  
  
But Hermione didn't have to ask, because it wasn't long before Draco groaned too.  
  
"Oh Drakie! You can't be holding this Mudbloods arm! She's probably contaminated!"  
  
"Yeah Draco! Besides you don't want to be caught dead with something as ugly as that attached to your arm."  
  
By this time the girls had thrown Hermione to the floor and were coddling Draco obviously oblivious to Draco's clenched jaw.  
  
"You must be sick to have let such filth touch you!"  
  
"She didn't hurt you did she?"  
  
Angry was far too impassionate a word to describe Hermione's feelings. Full of rage she said through clenched teeth, "I am right here!"  
  
Pansy looked down at her. "Yes, right on the floor where scum like you belongs!"  
  
That remark was the straw that broke the camel's back. *Mudblood, ugly, filth!* These words and others ran through her brain as she stood up resolutely, and tapped the pug faced girl on the shoulder.  
  
Pansy slowly turned around only to find herself face to face with Hermione's fist. Millicent was dumbstruck as she watched Pansy fall to the floor and Hermione turned slowly to her.  
  
"And for you?"  
  
Draco tried to focus on the sounds and flashes of light, but all he could understand was that whatever was happening, Hermione was severely kicking some large Slytherin arse. Finally every thing fell quiet and Draco felt an ironically gentle hand touch his arm.  
  
"Ready?"  
  
Draco allowed himself to be lead away to class.  
  
"What did you do?"  
  
He heard a giggle from the girl walking with him, and envisioned her smile as she casually said, "Identity charm."  
  
"And that does what exactly?"  
  
"Shows you for what you truly are."  
  
It wasn't until lunch that Draco finally came to appreciate the work Hermione had done that morning.  
  
In the middle of the Slytherin table, sat the two girls. Their hair was up, frizzy, and wild; red lipstick covered the span of their lips and then some; blue eye shadow covered their eyes from lashes to brow, and underneath their school robes, you could see long fishnet stockings with large holes and runs while both wore old heels. When they got up and attempted to walk, they stumbled and staggered as if drunk.  
  
"Two-cent whores." Draco remarked to Hermione noting their appearance.  
  
"Would you really pay that much?" Hermione countered cocking her head to the side as if checking them out.  
  
The blond laughed, "Yeah, to have them taken away."  
  
"You'll get a detention for that you know."  
  
"Yup, tonight at five."  
  
"Wait how did I not know?"  
  
"You fell asleep, but Flitwick didn't notice. That was when they told me, during, charms."  
  
Charms was their second class that day and Draco having been sick of not seeing and wearing a muggle invention that Hermione called sunglasses had closed is sealed eyes and slept. Then it hit him.  
  
"Wait, if you have a detention, then that means..."  
  
Hermione gave him a big cheesy grin.  
  
"Damn you!"  
  
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Well that one was long wasn't it? Hope you liked it! By for now! Thanks for reading and reviewing!!!  
  
~Atiannala 


	9. Detention

Disclaimer: still not mine!  
  
Detention  
  
"It's getting dark."  
  
"I know, but I still haven't found the tree yet."  
  
"Yes, but if you don't soon, we aren't going to find our way back."  
  
"Are you scared Malfoy?"  
  
The blond boy seemed quite taken aback. "What! Me scared? No! That's ridiculous! I was merely concerned that you might get scared."  
  
"Hmmm? Draco Malfoy concerned for the well-being of a Mudblood?" she pretended to muse, "I don't buy it."  
  
This time the blond spoke with an indignant air, "If you were scared then I would have to worry about getting us both safely back to the castle- we are stuck together you know! It's as much for me as it is for you."  
  
"Mmm hmm... keep telling yourself that and maybe one day it will be true."  
  
Malfoy shot the brunette a glare that put a momentary halt to their conversation. They were trudging through the Forbidden Forest looking for a tree with a dark red bark. Professor Snape needed the bark of the tree and sent Hermione to find it on her detention.  
  
So far, there had been no red trees.  
  
"You don't think we missed it do you?"  
  
Hermione gave him a weird look, "Do you think it's very likely that we both missed a RED tree? Especially a red tree that is right next to the path?"  
  
"No, I suppose not." Draco was silent for a moment. "But sending us into the Forest of Doom to look for a tree that there is only one of to get it's bark when he knows specifically where it is...it's just...it's just... Wh- What's That?!"  
  
Draco had jumped and accidentally grabbed Hermione's hand. "Not scared?" Hermione said looking down at their intertwined hands in a mocking way.  
  
"Shut up!" Draco said practically throwing her hand away.  
  
Hermione smirked as he walked uncomfortably a few steps away.  
  
"There!" he called pointing slightly to the right of the path.  
  
An hour later, Hermione was scraping the last bit of bark from the tree while Draco was jumping at his own shadow.  
  
Hermione turned around and laughed at the nervous boy. "Honestly Draco! You are entirely too old to be acting like this."  
  
"Too old my..." but the blond boy was unable to finish his sentence because he heard another noise and jumped. Unfortunately, he began to slide down a hill.  
  
Hermione had just enough time to say, "Oh no!" before she was swept down the hill after Draco.  
  
The two teens slid down the slope in a mass of limbs, thistles, and curses. Hermione had been concentrating on a way to slow down her momentum when she heard Draco scream something that was inappropriate for a school. Looking up Hermione saw the reason.  
  
The girl had barely enough time to react by grabbing a tree and stopping her descent before she reached the edge of a rather high ledge.  
  
Her breath became very heavy and she could feel her heart pounding against her ribs. It was hard to hold herself up, although she couldn't tell why. Being that her legs were stronger, she wrapped these around the trunk of the tree and looked backwards.  
  
She was less than half a foot away from the edge and Draco...  
  
Hermione's stomach tightened as she peeked over the edge.  
  
"Draco?" she said in a weak voice. Then she saw him, dangling from the edge of the cliff, suspended in midair.  
  
"Hold on!" she called down to the boy.  
  
"Hold on! Hold on? Hold on to what?" he cried back somewhat hysterically.  
  
Hermione reached for her wand and attempted to levitate the boy three times.  
  
"What's going on up there?"  
  
"It's not my fault!" Hermione called gritting her teeth, "You're fat!"  
  
"Am not!" he called.  
  
"Then you try lifting you arse in the air!"  
  
"Shut up!"  
  
"Can you reach my hand?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"My hand! Can you reach it?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Well try!" she was getting rather frustrated with trying to hold her and Draco from falling off the cliff and doing magick at the same time.  
  
Twice Draco tried to reach her, and twice he failed.  
  
"I can't!" he cried.  
  
"Yes...you...can!" Hermione replied through gritted teeth.  
  
On his third try, Draco managed to grasp the hand of the girl, and together they pulled him up back onto the sturdy ground. Once the task was done they collapsed into a heap of panting sweaty teens.  
  
Draco's head was resting on Hermione's stomach and she in turn was resting against a tree stroking his hair unknowingly. The blond sighed as his heart rate returned to normal. He could hear the pounding of Hermione's heart against her ribs; it was very soothing.  
  
When both teens had calmed and realized that they were laying in such close proximity, they stood up awkwardly, a faint blush even creeping up on the pale boy's cheeks.  
  
"Hermione!" Draco said in a sudden whim of realization, "Where is your bag?"  
  
With a glance back to the edge of the cliff, Hermione said, "Let's go."  
  
"You dropped it? Hermione, we can't go back, Snape will be furious! We have to run! Not only did you not complete your detention... that was the only tree like it in the forest!"  
  
"I couldn't hold the bag and you at the same time," she remarked as she passed him and headed towards the castle.  
  
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Hey guys hope you liked it. I got the next two chapters planned out, so I think that they should both be up this week! Yay! I can't wait! So here we go! Hope you liked it!  
  
Oh! And I started a new story which is a Remus/Sirius story. And it's been up a couple days and got only a few reviews. Please read it? ::makes puppy-dog eyes:: the more reviews I get the faster I write all my stories! No bribery is uncalled for, but check it out if you want! It's called Beyond the Veil. Okay, I'm out!  
  
~Atiannala 


	10. Punishment

She does exist? ..... They do exist???  
  
Disclaimer: still not mine  
  
Punishment  
  
"FIFTY POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR! YOU STUPID, STUPID GIRL! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT THIS MEANS? DO YOU? YOU HAVE SET ME BACK FOR MONTHS, YEARS EVEN! THE ENTIRE WORLD MAY BE DESTROYED BY DARKNESS AND DEATH-EATERS, AND IT WILL BE ENTIRELY YOUR FAULT! DETENTION! TOMORROW! MY CLASSROOM AT SIX!"  
  
"But dinner starts at six."  
  
"MY CLASSROOM AT SIX!"  
  
The angry professor stormed out of the room in a fury.  
  
"Why didn't you tell him you dropped it to save me?"  
  
"You don't get it do you?" she asked him.  
  
"Apparently not."  
  
"It doesn't matter what happened, Snape doesn't care. He hates all us Gryffindors."  
  
"Even if you saved a Slytherin?"  
  
"He'd chide me for not having enough coordination and strength to hold on to you both at once. You Slytherins can do whatever you want and not get in trouble, and even when we do what is right we are wrong."  
  
"That's not true!"  
  
"Wanna bet?"  
  
Draco moved closer to her so that he had to look down at Hermione. "Is that a challenge?"  
  
"I think it might be," she said with a smirk.  
  
Draco grabbed her chin gently turning her head slightly from side to side appraising her facial. "You've been practicing," he remarked.  
  
"I learned from the best."  
  
The next day's potions class would prove to be quite a spectacle.  
  
Draco was sitting with Hermione in their desk in the front center of the room, but the two students seemed to be doing very different things. Hermione, always the diligent student, was frivolously taking notes while Draco sat, not one book on is desk, slouching in his chair.  
  
Snape looked at Draco, just for a moment before turning back to his lecture, and continuing on.  
  
Draco, unsatisfied, tilted his chair backwards and began rocking back and forward. This caused Snape another pained look, but he immediately turned his head to the unfortunate red head in the fifth row.  
  
"Weasley! Tell me, what are the common side effects of a Subvecto Potion."  
  
"Ummm....." the redhead stammered trying to think of an answer as his face began to slowly turn the color of his hair.  
  
"The words are not going to appear on the board I assure you Mr. Weasley! Do you even know what the potion does?"  
  
Ron began to open and close his mouth trying to think of something to say.  
  
"While your cod fish impression is quite impressive, Mr. Weasley, it will not help you PASS THIS CLASS."  
  
Ron looked down angry and embarrassed.  
  
"TWENTY POINTS FROM GRYFFINDOR for Mr. Weasley's incompetence! The Subvecto Potion is a simple transport aid that was invented before apperating had been mastered. While it has dwindled out of common necessity, it can be used to travel in circumstances where apperation would not be possible.  
  
"Now if you will turn to page thirteen-twenty-one in your text, you will find brewing instructions. Begin."  
  
Draco walked over to the ingredients table with Hermione in tow. He picked up the bottle of pickled bat wings and deliberately threw it on the floor. The potions master snapped his head up spotting what he assumed caused the ruckus.  
  
"LONGBOTTOM!"  
  
"But sir! It wasn't me it was Draco!"  
  
"Mr. Longbottom, I will see you in my classroom at seven tomorrow for a detention. You will learn not to lie before you leave!"  
  
By the end of the class Draco had broken three more bottles of ingredients, set fire to the potion in the cauldron next to his by tripping, knocked another girl into her potion so that she had to be rushed to the hospital wing, and managed to make his own project explode.  
  
By the end of class, no one had a working potion, everyone had been promised a zero on the potion, eight Gryffindors had detentions scheduled throughout the next two weeks, and Snape had never said one word to Draco about his behavior.  
  
When they left the room, Hermione was wearing a very triumphant look one her face.  
  
"What do I have to give you?"  
  
"You'll see," she said smirking and walking past him leaving Draco to wonder if it had been an accident that her hand had just slid over his bum. Following the girl down the hallways, Draco imagined the possibilities.  
  
Hermione silently giggled to herself; she knew that Draco would take her implications thinking she wanted something else. She did find herself pondering when she had become comfortable enough with Draco to share sexual jokes with him. It was strange. Thinking about it now, she could not even feel any true animosity for him.  
  
Sighing she shook her head. Stupid boys! This was all their fault!  
  
"Draco," Hermione said sometime later, leaning over him in his seat. There was still two hours before she had to be in Snape's classroom, plenty of time for what she had in planned. "It's time to pay up!"  
  
Draco turned in his chair so that he faced her. "Is it?" he asked raising a long arched eyebrow.  
  
Hermione smiled knowingly holding up a piece of cloth.  
  
"What's this?"  
  
"A blindfold," she said nonchalantly.  
  
"Kinky one aren't we?"  
  
"Well, a girl's gotta have some fun now doesn't she?"  
  
Draco raised one of his elegant eyebrows.  
  
"Oh, just put it on wouldja?"  
  
Smirking Draco tied the band around his head.  
  
"You brought your wallet right?"  
  
"Wallet? What for?"  
  
"Do you have it?"  
  
The blond stammered for a moment before finally admitting that he had it with him.  
  
"Good"  
  
Draco seemed to find himself pushed through a hole, lead through a tunnel, falling on the floor, getting up and walking again, and finally climbing the stairs and being lead outside. Finally the blindfold fell away from his eyes, and he was in...  
  
"Hogsmede? But how?"  
  
He turned to look back at the girl who was wearing a winning smile. "I have my ways."  
  
The teens spent the afternoon sharing jokes and drinking butterbeer when suddenly Hermione, who was facing the door, gasped. Before Draco could register what was going on, he was one the floor next to Hermione watching the feet of Professor Snape walking by the table.  
  
Both teens relaxed when his feet walked passed them, but by some cruel twist of fate, he turned around and sat at the table above them.  
  
"What can I get for you today professor?"  
  
"Give me the strongest thing you've got!" and then he murmured something about stupid children. "In fact, make it two!"  
  
"Coming right up sir."  
  
"Draco, what are we going to do?"  
  
"Stop making noise, that's for sure!"  
  
"But Draco....."  
  
But the blond cut her off when he clasped her mouth and pressed closer to her as their professor shifted above them. A look seemed sufficient enough to share their plan, and the two crawled out of the bar. Without breaking eye contact or pulling away at all, Draco cast a disillusionment charm over the both of them.  
  
Of course, there were some causalities on thee way. Hermione's hair brushed a lady's ankle.  
  
"A RAT!! A RAT!!" she shrieked causing much the same reaction from the other women in the bar. As they all stood up and attempting to run from the unseen avenger, on impeccably large specimen of woman trotted on Draco's back.  
  
"Oof!" The blond fell pinned to the floor further inhibiting his movements and quite frankly freaking the large woman out entirely.  
  
Hermione not knowing what else to do, rammed into the lady knocking her over into a tall scrawny man wearing a brown bowler hat and an olive green suit and consequently freeing Draco.  
  
Observing the chaotic scene in the pub, the two teens decided to run for it.  
  
About twenty minutes later, the two were back in their room, Draco laying on the bed with his shirt unbuttoned and Hermione inspecting his rib cage. The cold cloth pressing on his ribs made the boy grit his teeth.  
  
"Your such a baby," Hermione muttered.  
  
"I'm such a baby? Me? Who freaked out when Snape came into the pub?"  
  
"Excuse me, but there was definitely no freaking involved."  
  
"Really? I seem to recall a great deal of freaking."  
  
"I was not!" she emphasized punching him once in the arm for good measure.  
  
"Were too."  
  
"No!" Now Hermione began to slap him repeatedly with both hands and in an attempt to stop her, Draco grabbed both wrists and pulling his own hands behind his back so that she couldn't hit him any more.  
  
At first, Hermione struggled, but gradually she put up less and less of a fight, leaving Draco's face and her own less than an inch apart. And suddenly the inch ceases to exist. In fact the entire world ceased to exist. The only thing that was real was her, Draco, and the amazing feeling that shot through her body all at once.  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Guess what? Tomorrow is my last day before spring break!!! You know what that means? MORE CHAPTERS!!! Well, I am sorry before, life started kicking my ass and kicking it hard! In any case, I am back now. And I have a live journal! Under the same name as this, so check it out... no really check it out! Sorry for the long wait, and thank you for bearing with me! Bye.  
  
~Atiannala 


	11. The Brat

You guys can really thank Dragon Princess for this one. She was my muse.  
  
Disclaimer: If it were mine..... ::laughs manically::  
  
The Brat  
  
Hermione soon felt Draco's hand snake around her back and pull her closer before he began massaging her back in small circles. His hands wandered, and without realization, a soft moan came from her lips.  
  
As his lips pressed back against hers, she could hear and feel him moan too. She could also feel his cold hand as it made it's way up the warm flesh of her back. His tongue was warm in her mouth as it softly caressed her own. The world seemed to melt away leaving nothing but this one kiss.....  
  
That is until the very distinct sound of a door opening cut all their fun.  
  
Realizing that they were no longer alone, Draco shoved Hermione off of him remembering only a second too late that this was not the greatest of ideas.  
  
Professor Albus Dumbledore stood in the doorway of the teens' room looking down at the new entanglement on the floor.  
  
Clearing his throat he said, "Perhaps the two of you should come with me."  
  
Fifteen minutes later, the two teenagers were sitting in chairs in front of the headmaster and their respective heads of houses up in Dumbledore's office. Each had their eyes turned to the floor to avoid looking at each other.  
  
"Well, it seems that you two have gone so far as to betray our trust and logical reasoning," the old bearded mage was saying. "I really thought the two of you had more sense in your heads between the two of you than that. Honestly! This type of behavior must end immediately." And then in a tone that was lighter and full of amusement, he added, "And I've got just the thing!"  
  
Dumbledore walked over to a cupboard and pulled a small orb that was admitting a blue light. "I've had this in here a while and I have wanted to try it out. Hope you two don't mind being the Guinea pigs!"  
  
The dark haired man standing to Dumbledore's left decided now to remark, "Really Albus, I must protest! This is to be a punishment not a science experiment."  
  
"Oh it will be Severus, just you wait and see."  
  
"And just what does that thing do?" piped in a witch to the old man's right.  
  
"Patience Minerva. You shall soon see."  
  
Both house heads seemed to be a tad bit pouty at not deciding the fate of their own students, but they allowed the headmaster to continue.  
  
"Now, Draco, Hermione, I want you to each hold out a hand."  
  
Once each student had placed their hand out towards the man, he grabbed them and pulled them together so that Hermione's hand lay in Draco's and both palm were facing up. Then Albus placed the orb inside their palms.  
  
The sphere sat there for a moment, when all of a sudden, the strange light it emitted turned from blue to deep red.  
  
Four of the room's occupants sat gaping at the unknown object and its strange behavior while one merely stood there, his old blue eyes twinkling. There was a general gasp of surprise as the orb began to levitate and spin. It seemed, that as the orb began to spin, it began to stretch and get bigger.  
  
And then, it didn't look so round any more; the sides began to stretch giving it a more elliptical look. As it kept spinning, the sides kept getting longer, and then, it began to diverge into a very oddly shaped spinning object.  
  
About five minutes passed as the red spinning entity captivated it's object, and finally the spinning came to a halt showing that what the article had been was.....  
  
"A baby!"  
  
Hermione was not the only one who was surprised as the floating object before them stopped spinning, and the glow began to die down leaving a wrinkly pink new born.  
  
"Yes Miss Granger," Dumbledore started as the baby sailed gracefully towards Hermione landing softly in her arms. "Your baby."  
  
"What?" All four of the others in the room were trying to figure out just exactly what was going on.  
  
Dumbledore laughed at the general confusion of the room.  
  
"Perhaps I should start at the beginning," the old wizard said, ignoring the snort of "Perhaps!" that had escaped the elder of his colleagues' lips.  
  
"This is my latest invention!" there was a general eye rolling of the members of the party who were also members of the faculty. "I have been noticing for a long time that children are all too often snogging in hall ways and in between classes, Regardless of the repercussions. Why, I have even heard of some young girls going off and getting muggle abortions! As you know that sort of thing is looked down upon in our society. Well, I devised this little critter to teach you kids some responsibility. By placing both your hands under it, this baby doll will have traits from both of you. Now, it is just a doll, but is charmed to act, think, and grow like a real baby."  
  
"Oh! This is like the thing....." Hermione began and then stopped short, "What? Did you say grow?"  
  
"Yes Miss Granger grow. This child will grow approximately one year every week. You will be 'raising' this child until she is six, so for six weeks. Each week you will be reporting to us for a 'check up,' but mind you, the doll has a charm on it that will tell us how well she is being taken care of. And if you guys fail to do well with this project, there will be consequences in your grades. You may go now."  
  
As Draco and Hermione turned to leave, Professor Snape spoke up. "Oh, and Miss Granger. Shall we reschedule our appointment this evening for tomorrow night? And the one after that?"  
  
Hermione, after pausing to listen to her professor, stormed out of the room with Draco in tow.  
  
After they left, Albus Dumbledore turned to the two other professors holding out both hands, "Now, I do believe it was me that said they would end up together before the end."  
  
A low grumbling noise filled the room as both teachers reached for their pocketbooks.  
  
"This is just great! Just bloody Freaking great!"  
  
"Draco stop, your upsetting it!"  
  
"Stop! Stop? That fool of a Wizard gave us a bloody doll to play with for the next six weeks all because of on freaking kiss. We're teenagers for Merlin's sake, what did he expect?"  
  
"I don't know Draco, just calm down please, your upsetting the baby..... er..... doll.....er ......um....."  
  
Draco sat down defeatedly on the bed. So much had happened in the span of such a short time that he felt like he was scrambling to pick up the pieces of his mind and put them back where they belonged. What was more annoying than anything else was the fact that he couldn't think about what had transpired between himself and Hermione because now he had to worry about a freaking doll.  
  
Hermione was just as confused as Draco, although had less trouble thinking the situation over. How could she like Draco? She had hated him for so long. He had put her through hell. Why, she couldn't even rightly call him a friend yet, acquaintance was more like it. What the whole situation boiled down to was stupid teenage hormones.  
  
"Draco I'm sorry about before, this afternoon I mean. I guess I sort of lost my head. You know how those things happen."  
  
The blond laughed, a little more nervously than he liked, "Yeah, no sweat. I mean this doesn't harm our friendship at all right..... I mean....." He had just realized that they might not be considered friends.  
  
"No, we are still friends."  
  
So she did think of him as a friend? "Good." Draco looked down at the crumply thing in Hermione's arms. "I suppose we ought to name the thing?" he mused out loud.  
  
"What about..... Megan?" Hermione suggested.  
  
"No too pretty. She needs a strong name. How about Bree?"  
  
Hermione made a humming sound.  
  
"You don't like it?"  
  
"It's not that I don't like it..... It's just that I....."  
  
"Don't like it."  
  
"Exactly." Hermione thought for a bit. "What about Mabel?"  
  
"Mabel's a fat name." "No, it's not! It means beautiful."  
  
"Mabel's a fat name."  
  
"Fine then! What do you want to call her?"  
  
After a pause, his face lit up. "Calantha."  
  
Hermione made a face.  
  
"What?" Draco asked.  
  
"Noting, it's just..... it's weird that's all."  
  
"Oh, THAT'S weird, and HERMIONE is a perfectly common every-day name."  
  
"You know what I mean."  
  
"Fine!" Draco spat somewhat indignantly, he had rather liked his name. "Caitlyn then."  
  
A moment of silence passed between the two before Draco finally spoke.  
  
"So," he said examining the baby/doll thoroughly, "What do you do with one of these things?"  
  
@@@@@@@@@@@ Alright, so I have to work 5-colse a.k.a. 12:30 am every day so this took a little longer than expected. I am going to try to get the next chapter up before I go to Mexico, but if it is not up by Sunday/Monday, it won't be up for another week. That is all for now. I will catch you guys later! Bye! And don't forget to review!  
  
I LOVE YOU GUYS!!! 


	12. Baby Blues

Disclaimer: I get the feeling that we are going around in circles...  
  
Baby Blues  
  
"WWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!"  
  
Hermione grumbled and turned over on her side.  
  
"Aren't you goding to gvet dhat?" asked a yawning voice from across the room. When Hermione didn't answer, he rolled over and looked at the almost sleeping mass.  
  
"Hermione, aren't you going to get that?"  
  
Throwing the covers off of herself as she muttered venomous things about Draco under her breath.  
  
It was four eighteen in the morning and neither she nor Draco had slept a wink. The cursed creature that was residing in there room was always hungry, or gassy, or she needed a new diaper; and Hermione for one was sick of it.  
  
Holding the baby as carefully as her body would allow, she walked over to Draco and deposited the good-for-nothing mass on the chest of the good-for- nothing father.  
  
"You deal with it!" she told the blond, "I have got it last time."  
  
Having finally deposited the child, she was determined to get some sleep.  
  
Draco looked at the bundle in his arms, which was still fussing.  
  
"Hermione? Hermione?" he took a glance over at the girl, but she had fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.  
  
With his face set in grim determination, Draco looked at the doll in his arms, "Looks like it's just me and you kid."  
  
The thing to do, he supposed, was to find out what was wrong with the thing. Draco studied the baby in his arms and the baby kept crying; and Draco looked at the baby more, and the baby kept crying; and the more the Draco kept examining the baby, the more it cried.  
  
"What the bloody hell do you want?!"  
  
For a second the baby was silent, then her face got all screwed up and she began wailing more than ever.  
  
"I'm sorry! Caitlyn I'm sorry!" Draco was dimly aware that he was talking to something that could not understand him. The blond desperately racked his brain trying to think of how to make a baby stop crying. An idea finally came to him.  
  
Cradling the child to his chest, he stood u and began gently rocking and bouncing.  
  
"Please, just stop making that god-forsaken noise."  
  
Slowly enough the sobs began to quite and then could no longer be heard. Draco was just beginning to think that this spawn of Satan was finally beginning to sleep when the child made a funny noise.  
  
Draco's brow furrowed as he tried to guess what the noise was. Then it came again; it sounded quite like a grunt. Did babies grunt? Was this normal? What was going...  
  
It was then that he smelled it. No! But who could mistake that scent?  
  
Soon enough the baby stopped making the grunting noise and laid the baby on the dressing table they had recently acquired. HE knew what he had to do, but was quite afraid to do it.  
  
As he stood there contemplating the best course of action, he heard a small noise and realized that Caitlyn was smiling.  
  
"Oh, now you think it's funny!"  
  
Draco turned the baby around every angle to try to find the best possible way to approach the subject. Lying Caitlyn on he small back, he began picking at the tabs which held her diaper shut.  
  
It was only after Draco managed to open the death trap that he realized he should have gotten the other diaper ready first. The diaper was continently located on the other side of the room.  
  
With a sigh Draco went to grab the diaper when the baby began to cry. Oh, the baby! You can't just leave a new born sitting there; it could fall and get broken- however it is that babies get broken. Well, clean the baby first and then worry about the diaper seemed most logical.  
  
So Draco set about the task of whipping the baby's bum. "This is no job for a Malfoy!" he groaned. "This is servant's work!"  
  
When the baby was finally clean, Draco picked her up and walked across the room to grab the diaper, but by the in the short amount of time it actually took him to get across the room and back, a wet spot had appeared on his shirt.  
  
"SHIT!"  
  
"No, that's piss actually, shit tends to have a more brownish color."  
  
Draco slowly turned to meet the eyes of the Brunette who was now standing beside him. "Oh, you're great! Real FUNNY!"  
  
"Well it is what you get for being entirely too loud for sleep."  
  
Draco decided that he ought to pass the baby off now that Hermione was awake, but when he tried.....  
  
"Oh, by all means... I didn't mean to interrupt."  
  
"Bitch....."  
  
Hermione smiled.  
  
Draco tried to fit the diaper on the wriggling baby, but it just would not go. After five minutes of struggle, he finally lifted the baby up into the air to prove to Hermione that he could do this.  
  
But just as the baby reached a vertical position, the diaper slid off causing more laughter from the brunette.  
  
"Fine then you do it!" the blond screamed, quite exasperated and quite sick of the baby already.  
  
Hermione smirked in a way that she had gotten really good at lately. Pointing her wand at the baby, she muttered some words too low for Draco to hear, and the diaper quickly stuck itself to the babe.  
  
Draco, dumbfounded, stared at Hermione not knowing what to say.  
  
"Now you get her to sleep," Hermione said before making her way to her bed.  
  
"The potion to induce clotting of blood was developed in the late fifteenth century by an alchemist named, Robert Blakney. He was able to accomplish this using very simple methods and the potion was relatively easy to come by, becoming quite popular in times of war. Now, Ms. Granger, what is the key ingredient of this potion? Ms. Granger..... Ms. GRANGER!" The Black haired professor slammed his hand on Hermione's desk in fury.  
  
"No, don't put it there....." the class burst into streams of laughter. Draco prodded Hermione awake, she had been dreaming about the mishap of the disposal of the dirty diaper the previous night, but apparently the class had filled in the blanks with much more entertaining subjects.  
  
"Oh, and just exactly where should I put it Ms. Granger?" Snape asked as his black eyes bore into Hermione's. The girl felt her cheeks go red as the class laughed harder still.  
  
The bell rang signifying the end of class.  
  
"Detention again tonight Ms. Granger."  
  
Hermione stormed out of the room and hit Draco on the shoulder. "This is all your fault!"  
  
"My fault? My fault! How do you deduce your falling asleep in class as my fault?"  
  
"Because! We have to take care of that stupid doll all because you had to kiss me!"  
  
"Woah, back up! You definitely kissed me!"  
  
"Ha! Like I would do a thing like that?"  
  
"Well you did!"  
  
Hermione looked shock, "I would never...."  
  
But Draco cut her off, "If I had done it, it would have been better."  
  
"Are you saying that you are a better kisser than me?"  
  
"Yes, I think that is exactly what I said."  
  
"You definitely are not, and you definitely were the one to start last time."  
  
"No, if I had kissed you, it would have been something like this!"  
  
With those words he had thrown Hermione up against one of the dungeon walls, pinning her arms above her head, taking possession of her lips. He did, after all, have a point to make.  
  
When he eased up, and pulled away slowly Hermione's lips were swollen and her eyes had a somewhat heavy look to them.  
  
"How was that?" the boy asked.  
  
A sly smile took Hermione's lips, "Not as good as this....."  
  
@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Hope you like it, sorry for the long wait. Senioritis hit me hard. I'm getting back. Let me know what you think.  
  
THANK YOU ALL FOR READING AND REVIEWING! 


	13. Parentals!

Disclaimer: I feel we are going around in circles and getting now where way too fast.  
  
"My, My. What do we have here?" a low voice drawled pulling Hermione and Draco out of their kiss.  
  
As the two teens separated slightly and turned to face the noise, their fears were realized and the owner of the voice turned out to be none other than Severus Snape the potions master.  
  
"Care to explain?"  
  
Draco began speaking first. "I was just giving Hermione mouth to mouth resuscitation." He knew the look Hermione was giving him was calling him all the demeaning little names in existence.  
  
"Really!" Snape practically squealed, before turning to a dull monotone, "How kind." It was clear by his voice that he was not amused. "Since you two seem to find it entirely impossible to keep your hands off each other, I am going to write to your parents."  
  
It was not until the next night that the children felt the full blow of that threat.  
  
Hermione and Draco had just picked up Caitlyn from the house elves that watched her during their classes, and were on the way up to the dorm room, when a high-pitched voice met them from behind.  
  
"Oh Hermione! We were just on our way to see you!"  
  
"Remain calm," the brunette whispered more to herself than the boy behind her.  
  
Hermione turned around and walked over to the couple standing behind them on the stairs.  
  
"Mum, Dad!" she ran and embraced the two, hoping that they wouldn't notice her nervousness. "What are you doing here?"  
  
Her dad decided to answer, "One of your teachers wrote us and invited us here. He said that we should come see what you were up to. So we thought we'd come down and see what good things you were doing. What was his name dear, Snarp?"  
  
"That's Snape dear," her mum confirmed.  
  
"Yes, Snape, so, how are you sweetie?" her dad asked.  
  
"And who is your friend?" obviously her mother had noticed the muscular blond beside her.  
  
"Mom, Dad," she began, "this is Draco."  
  
That was the fatal moment that Draco turned around and the Granger's got a look at the baby which conveniently looked just like the two teens. The Grangers immediately assumed that they knew what their daughter had been up to.  
  
"And we thought you were doing something good, not having bastard children with stuck up snobs!"  
  
"But Mum..."  
  
"Don't you but Mum me, young lady," her mother began. "This is entirely irresponsible of you!"  
  
"Indeed!" her father added, "If you are going to act so rashly, you can do it with out us!"  
  
"But Daddy, it's not our baby!"  
  
"Oh, then whose baby is it?"  
  
"Well, ours but....."  
  
"Exactly!"  
  
Hermione's mother was sobbing, "All this time, I thought you were learning and doing well. Now I just have to face it, my daughter's a common whore!"  
  
"Mom, I did not have a baby!"  
  
"Oh," snorted her father, "Then what do you call that?"  
  
"Well, a baby but..."  
  
"Exactly! A baby!" her father bellowed. "We sent you here to get an education, and what do we get in return? A trollop! What did I tell you Becky? I told you it wasn't a good idea to send her to school with freaks like that!" he nodded toward Draco, "but you thought we should let her choose her own path."  
  
"Marshal, I was just trying to be a good mother I....."  
  
But Mrs. Granger was interrupted by her young daughter who had been trying to regain her ability to speak.  
  
"Whore? Trollop? Freak? You guys won't even listen to me! The only thing out of hand here is your attitudes! You wouldn't even give me a chance to explain. You think that just because we are different from you that we are freaks- is that right? Well if I am a freak I am happy to be one; better than living at home with cold, unyielding, blobs like you!"  
  
With that Hermione grabbed the baby and ran down the hallway with Draco in tow.  
  
Draco was sitting awkwardly on Hermione's bed as the girl cried as she had been doing for the past fifteen minutes. The blond couldn't help feeling as if there were something he should be doing, but he didn't quite know what. Finally, he decided to try his luck at comforting.  
  
"Oh come off it, it isn't that bad."  
  
Hermione finally looked up and Draco thought that he had probably said something good, until a slap across the face proved him wrong. Did he really think it would be that easy?  
  
The brunette had gone back to crying on the bed.  
  
"Look Hermione, that's not what I mean. I mean that Dumbledore will sort them out and they will realize everything is all right. They obviously care about you or they wouldn't have put on such a show."  
  
Draco prepared himself for a blow that never came. Opening his eyes, he saw Hermione straightening up and pulling herself to order. "I suppose you are right," she was saying. "It all will be over soon enough, but I thought my mom would at least listen."  
  
Then the bundle in Draco's lap made a noise. "Mmm"  
  
Both teens looked at her as Caitlyn tried again, "MMMumm."  
  
Draco whispered, "I think she is trying to say mom," then to the baby he said, "Mom?"  
  
And Caitlyn answered "Mum!"  
  
"She did it! She said, 'mom'!" Draco jumped up and began dancing.  
  
Hermione giggled at the display that was so out of character for Draco.  
  
"Alright," she watched as he continued talking to Caitlyn. "Now say 'D-a- d'."  
  
"DDDddd"  
  
"No, Da-add'"  
  
"Ddddd"  
  
"Dad?"  
  
"Daa"  
  
"That was 'dad'! She said 'dad'!" But he stopped talking when he realized that Hermione was watching him oddly and blushed when he realized why. He wasn't exactly acting like typical Draco.  
  
But then something strange happened; instead of making fun of him, Hermione sat down and began o speak.  
  
"I wished for years and years when I was a child to have a little brother or sister. It always got lonely having no one else around, my parents were there but busy a lot of the time. When I realized that it was impossible, I began to think about what my own family would be like. I even pictured this day in my head. Granted this is all pretend, but still, it feels real."  
  
Draco wasn't quite sure what she was saying and didn't have much time to think about it because right then Professor McGonagall showed up telling them that the Granger situation had been resolved and the Malfoys had also been informed of the recent events. This should alleviate all problems.  
  
Back inside the dorm, Hermione began to tease Draco about his moment earlier with Caitlyn. The blond shoved the girl playfully and she landed on the ground half way across the room.  
  
It was then that both teens realized that their spell wasn't holding quite as strong.  
  
"I suppose it will all be over soon then," Draco said.  
  
"Suppose so," Hermione agreed.  
  
An Awkward silence fell over the room, as each student gathered the materials they would need for bed.  
  
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^_^ Thank you! ^_^  
  
AP exams over on May 12, expect lots of updates after then!  
  
Yum!  
  
~Atiannala 


	14. The Big Match

The Big Match  
  
Hermione rolled over in her bed in her sleep, an uneasiness flowing through her from her present dream.  
  
dream  
  
Hermione was sitting at something- a party it seemed. She was at a tall table sipping a drink.  
  
Turning to her left she saw a tall man with dark hair and green eyes talking to a blond man of the same stature. It appeared to be Harry and Draco, only years older. Both men shook hands and Draco clasped Harry on the shoulder before turning and leaving.  
  
Draco walked over to Hermione and gently took hold of her arm smiling and so she smiled back.  
  
"Such happy times weddings are," Draco said with more of a nostalgic sigh than declarative statement. "Look how happy they are."  
  
Hermione turned to see Harry dancing with a tall red haired woman that Hermione identified as Ginny. While she was looking, she felt an arm snake around her shoulders and pull her closely.  
  
"Reminds me of another time a year or so ago."  
  
"Oh?" Hermione asked trying to sound playful and not like she had no idea what he was referring to.  
  
Draco smiled and laid his other hand on her abdomen and began to rub it gently. "And to think that now we are going to have a little one running around soon."  
  
Hermione glanced down and noticed the ring on her finger and the bulge under her dress.  
  
Hermione shot straight up in her bed breathing heavy. This was not going to happen, she was NOT going to like Draco. Sure they had hooked up, but that was it just a hook up. She had no feelings for him did she? No! she couldn't; she wouldn't!  
  
Laying back down in her bed, Hermione abolished any thoughts of Draco from her mind, however, Draco did not find a similar task quite as easy.  
  
The blond lay in his bed staring at the nearby wall telling himself not to think about Hermione. They would be separated soon and although he did not have a horrible time, life would be entirely more convenient without the know-it-all.  
  
By next week, they would both be back to their old tricks again. And that was what he wanted; right? Of course!  
  
As Draco's eyes closed, he made a subconscious resolution to begin to push Hermione away. He didn't have time for this anymore, the Quidditch Finals were coming up next week. Practice every day.  
  
So the week pressed with Hermione and Draco barely speaking except when necessary. Caitlyn had started crawling, walking, and speaking more; she had not as of yet become too much of a handful. The elves now had to watch the child during classes and during Quidditch practice since Hermione and Draco were still attached.  
  
Soon it was the day of the big match, Slytherin v. Gryffindor.  
  
Everyone was uptight. Hermione and Draco opted out of breakfast in the great hall, because either way one of them would be seen as fraternizing with the enemy. This still didn't stop the taunts they both had to endure that day.  
  
Breakfast was rather uncomfortable, with Draco shrugging off every attempt at conversation Hermione made. He had spoken a grand total of five words and spent the rest of the meal deep in thought. Hermione figured he was focusing all his attention on that evening's game.  
  
As Draco and Hermione were walking back up to their dorm, Crabb and Goyle walked up to Draco.  
  
"You gonna catch that snitch before that arse Wonder Boy?" Crabb asked laughing at Hermione's reaction to his taunt of her friend. It was nothing though compared with what happened next.  
  
"Of course he's gonna win for us! He has had this hot piece of ass to shag while Potter was probably worrying about the game!"  
  
Hermione's jaw dropped as Draco began to laugh. "Hey, what can I say?"  
  
Hermione turned fast to look at Draco as she heard behind her Crabb and Goyle laughing.  
  
"Never was a Mudblood that was much more than a whore."  
  
Draco just let them go on and on Hermione continued to look at him for a moment, and then slapped him across the face and ran up to the dorm.  
  
Draco, not really having a choice in the matter headed up to the dorm after Hermione to find the girl standing in the room her back to him. From the sound of her voice it sounded like she was fighting tears.  
  
"Leave me alone Draco."  
  
"I'd love to babe," he said snidely knowing full well that Hermione hated the derogatory pronoun, "But incase you haven't noticed, we are still stuck together thanks to those two knuckle heads you call friends."  
  
Hermione turned and slapped him again.  
  
After finding his face stinging for the second time in five minutes, Draco rounded on Hermione grabbing her tightly by the shoulders and pinning her against the wall. As he spoke his voice was dangerously low.  
  
"You would do to stop that Mudblood! Don't forget that when all this is done, you will still be a measly little Mudblood, and I will still be Draco Malfoy son of Lucius Malfoy, one of the most powerful and influential wizards today. I don't think my father would like to hear of me being slapped, do you?"  
  
As Hermione whimpered with her head turned sideways so that Draco's harsh words fell upon her cheek, Draco realized just how tightly he was holding her and felt a pang of remorse shoot through him. He hadn't meant to hurt the girl, only scare her a bit. However, one doesn't spend eighteen years living in the house of Malfoy and not know how to hide one's emotions.  
  
Draco shoved the girl to the side so that he wasn't hurting her any more, but so that she also fell to the floor. After throwing her he turned, but not soon enough so he couldn't see her hands moving up to grasp the area Draco had just been holding.  
  
"Get up!" he yelled, "Your pathetic sniveling is making me nauseous."  
  
And Hermione's eyes narrowed and she did get up.  
  
"What the duce is wrong with you Draco Malfoy?"  
  
"Nothing is wrong with me! I am perfectly fine!"  
  
"You're acting different."  
  
"No, I am acting like Draco Malfoy; this is how Draco Malfoy acts, how he always has acted, and will always act, and nothing or nobody is going to change that fact ever!"  
  
"Bull shit!"  
  
Draco snapped his head so he was focusing on Hermione. "What?"  
  
"I said 'Bull Shit'" she told him making sure to draw out both words as if he were slow, "Bull shit as in you have been acting at least decent for the majority of the time we have been stuck together, and now you are being a prick." She looked at him oddly after speaking.  
  
"Oh, I get it. You thought that you had changed me!" Draco laughed mockingly. "The brave little Gryffindor Princess gets locked up in the castle with the cold unfeeling Slytherin king."  
  
"Draco please....."  
  
"And while he continues to push her away, her patience and virtue and ability to think on her feet along with her unquestioning love of everything and everyone finally makes the unfeeling bastard realize that he does have a heart."  
  
"Draco I....."  
  
"And the princess teaches him how to feel again, and he end up falling in love with her. And in the end, their love stands many test and passes each of them because true love conquers all!" Here he broke into hysterical laughter. "And they all....." he laughed, "lived happily....." more laughter, "ever after!" here he howled like a hyena he was laughing so hard.  
  
"Draco!"  
  
He stopped his hysterics long enough to raise an eyebrow.  
  
"Is that what you really thought? Well I have news for you. There's something called the real world Hermione, where guys like me can't be with girls like you!"  
  
"I just..... I just....." Her words were interrupted by her heavy gasps as she choked down her tears determined not to cry.  
  
"You what?"  
  
"I just thought we'd be friends..... Or at least civil..... it's just that..... that....."  
  
But before she finished, she ran into the bathroom and slammed the door. It was only then that Draco let his face fall and the sorrow he felt shone through on his face. 'It's for the best Hermione,' he thought, 'My father wouldn't think twice about killing us both.'  
  
He knew it after the dream he had had last night. He had ended up married to Hermione with beautiful children. Thinking back on it now brought tears to his eyes. He had woken up startled, but knew that deep down he pined for the connection more than he could ever let anyone know. He wanted Hermione, not just to shag, but to..... love? That was why he had to push her away. Feelings have no place in a war.  
  
"So Severus, did you bring that wallet of yours today?"  
  
"Good morning Minerva; it's a pleasure as always."  
  
"Yes almost as much of a pleasure as it is going to be emptying the contents of that wallet after Gryffindor whips Slytherin this afternoon."  
  
"Oh, I wouldn't be so sure of that Minerva if I were you; you just might....."  
  
"Now, now, are we betting on sports again? You know Severus, that psycho- whatsit that we met with say you really must learn to control you obsessive habits."  
  
"Uh, yes, if I may a word professor?"  
  
"Why indeed, please excuse us Minerva."  
  
"Good day boys."  
  
The two men walked down the hall in silence until the younger one spoke.  
  
"Albus, you never told me what you wanted that potion for last night."  
  
"Oh, I just had some business to attend to."  
  
"Sir, the Conscious Unconscious potion is very serious. Not only does it make it's victim realize what they want more than anything else in the world, but it also has caused many witches and wizards to go mad simply because they cannot achieve the desire that they else wise were unaware of. I must caution you again against using this potion."  
  
"Oh bugger off you old bat! And I already used it thank you."  
  
Hogwarts' Potion's Master stopped in his very tracks, "Are you calling me old sir?"  
  
"Not old, just stuffy and well..... aged. You know Sev old boy, you ought to learn how to live a bit, your age is showing old man."  
  
"Old man!?" Severus Snape turned and stalked down the hall away from the crazy old headmaster.  
  
When it was time to get ready for the game, Draco shrunk Hermione without so much as a word of interaction between them. Draco constantly reminded himself that it was better that they didn't speak, but secretly considered keeping Hermione small always so he could always keep her in his breast pocket. Of course he could make her larger when no one was around, but otherwise it might just looked like she vanished off the face of the earth. Well, he could come up with elaborate impractical schemes if his mind so choose.  
  
The game was exciting; it was going on its fifth hour, after raining for three, and the game remained mostly neck and neck. It was all up to Draco. A flash of gold. The Snitch!  
  
Seeing the stitch dive below him, Draco dove himself and from the looks of it, Potter was doing the same. A strait dive would be too easy, Draco was sure of that. Somewhere it would turn.  
  
And it did, at the same moment Hermione's box began to slide out of Draco's robes. The connection had been broken and if she fell from here, she would surely die! Draco looked from the box to the snitch, the box to the snitch, and back from the box to the snitch again. He was either going to lose the house cup or Hermione. Diving still blinded by the rain that pelted at his eyes Draco stretched out his hand.  
  
A few minutes later, Draco sat on the grass in the Quidditch Pitch looking at the small brown box in his hands.  
  
THANK YOU TO ANY WHO HAVE EVER REVIEWED!!!! 


	15. The Truth

First, let me apologize for taking so dang long to get up the last chapter. What it really boils down to is me being really busy and having lots of issues. Not horrible issues, but issues nonetheless.  
  
Second, does any one out there have a yahoo account and can tell me how to change the font? After they updated it, everything went to curlz and I can't read a dagded bit! I also use safari if that changes anything.  
  
Third, On with the show!!  
  
The Truth  
  
A few minutes later, Draco sat on the grass in the Quidditch Pitch looking at the small brown box in his hands.   
  
He could hear the cheers in the stands coming not from the green section, but the red; hell it came from the blue and yellow sections too. They were happy so long as his team didn't win. The school hated him for being a Slytherin, The Slytherins surely hated him for losing the game, and Hermione certainly hated him for being such a prick. Add that to his fan club outside of school, and Draco was on the receiving end of tons of hate.  
  
He crouched there in the grass as he heard the crowds dissipate and the teams go into the locker room for showers. When he was certain that he was alone, he set the box down and opened the lid.  
  
Still kneeling, he muttered the incantation that would return Hermione to her rightful size. He knew she couldn't have fully understood what had gone on being inside the box; but he would truly been surprised if she couldn't read it on his face.  
  
Hermione stood towering over him about to speak, but when Draco looked up, there was a look to him that she couldn't place, but also one that struck her speechless. The two teens kept eye contact the whole time it took for Draco to stand up and walk past Hermione leaving her alone on the field.  
  
Draco walked past the doors and into the locker room, immediately running into Blasie's fist.  
  
Draco grabbed his face where the blow had hit him. "Bloody hell!" He heard the locker room door slam knowing Blaise had made and exit that would have done her Potions Master proud.  
  
Gathering himself, Draco headed towards his locker and sat on the bench in between Crabb and Goyle who both immediately stood up and left. One by one the other players followed suit until Draco was once again left entirely alone with nothing but his agonizing thoughts to keep him company.  
  
It was at dinner when Hermione first realized Draco's absence. He wasn't there sitting across the great hall where he usually sat. Odd she noted and tried to focus back on what Ron was saying.  
  
"And there they were, neck and neck, both reaching out for the golden snitch. It was as if it was all going in slow motion, would Harry get it? Would we win? And they were still neck in neck and the distance between their hands and the snitch was getting smaller. And"  
  
"And Draco was the stupid ferret he was and swerved leaving Harry to catch the snitch" Ginny cut in. "Jeeze Ron! It isn't as if we all weren't there!"  
  
"Wait what?" Hermione asked before Ron could reply to his sister. "You mean he just went the other direction?"  
  
"Yup," Ginny said as she scooped up a fork of mashed potatoes. "Turned to the side and flew like his life depended on it. One of the oddest things I've ever seen in a match."  
  
The words 'like his life depended on it' ran through Hermione's mind. She remembered the feeling of falling faster and faster and not knowing when you would hit the ground. She had been certain that day she was going to die. She had finally gotten used to the twisting and turning of flying in Draco's pocket, but the plummet was entirely different.  
  
He must have seen her, and dove to keep her from crashing full speed into the ground. But why would he do that? What about everything he said that morning? He made fun of her for thinking they could ever be anything except enemies. Then why would he sacrifice a game to save her, his enemy? There was something Draco was not telling and something Hermione was determined to find out.  
  
Severus Snape sat at the teachers' table eating dinner when he noticed the headmaster staring at a student with a certain twinkle in his eye that Severus knew all too well. Following the gaze, Severus Snape realized that Hermione Granger was part of the headmaster's latest scheme.  
  
"Did you do what I think you did?" he asked approaching the old man.  
  
Albus looked up innocently at the younger man and remarked, "If you mean did I make Hermione Granger fall in love with Draco Malfoy, then no, she did that on her own."  
  
"And what then did you do?"  
  
"I just helped them along a little."  
  
The potion's master sat down and supported his head with his hands. "The conscious unconscious potion?"  
  
"Precisely!"  
  
Snape let out a groan.  
  
"I say! Do you feel all right their Severus? You are moaning something awful! Maybe you should go visit Pompy."  
  
Snape fixed Dumbledore with a glare that could freeze over a flame. "I am alright sir, just indigestion!"  
  
Albus watched as the man stood up and left in a fury. "I wonder what's gotten into him."  
  
That night Draco hadn't returned to his dorm. Hermione was pacing back and forward in their small room trying to calm a screaming Caitlyn. Nothing seemed to be working, nothing at all. Hermione made up her mind to hex the living daylights out of that accursed Malfoy whenever he got back. Hermione's heart went out to all those single mothers who had to do this every day.  
  
Feeling that this unsatisfied infant was not merely her problem, she decided that she would allow Draco to partake in this fortune. She promptly decided to place a silencing charm on the baby and made a quick run to the Gryffindor tower.  
  
Harry heard a muffled scream along with a thud and his hand immediately flew to his wand, which he kept under his pillow. In less than half a second he stood ready and armed looking around for the offender.  
  
A laugh soon broke through the room. "Paranoid much?" asked his best friend Hermione Granger.  
  
"What, uh......" he blushed at the fact that he had prepared himself to be ready for an attack whatever the hour. Ron, it would appear from the way he was now jumbled on the floor rubbing his backside, was not as prepared as Harry.  
  
Sighing Harry lowered his defenses. "What are you doing here? And in the middle of the night?" he whispered.  
  
"Calm down alright, I just need the map..... and maybe the cloak too."  
  
"What would you need that for?" Ron asked glancing up at her suspiciously from the floor.  
  
"There is an arse that needs kicking, and I have to find where it is." Was her answer. "I'll give it back to you first thing tomorrow, please?"  
  
Sighing, Harry threw her his invisibility cloak and the marauder's map.  
  
"Later boys," Hermione called with a smirk leaving the two teens to get back to their sleep.  
  
Hermione went back to her dorm to figure out where exactly Draco Malfoy was hiding.  
  
After searching all the obvious places, Hermione found him next to the Forbidden Forest. Stuffing the map in her pocket and grabbing the silently screaming baby, Hermione threw the cloak over her and headed off.  
  
Draco Malfoy was leaning up against a tree on the edge of the forbidden forest not really feeling like being anywhere or speaking to anyone. He wasn't upset or sad or let down even, in fact he wasn't much of anything at the moment except for confused. A jumble of thoughts and feelings had pushed their way into his brain and all began acting at once so that he had to finally scream "Shut up!" to make them all stop.  
  
A few hours later, he was merely leaning up against a tree neither thinking nor feeling. It was as he stood here that he saw a figure materialize out of thin air. Being a wizard people showing up that weren't there a moment before was entirely normal. What wasn't normal was appearing out of nowhere at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; there were too many wards against that sort of thing.  
  
After a moment of watching the mysterious shadow, he realized that it was none other than the Gryffindor know-it-all Hermione Granger, and she was walking straight towards him.  
  
Almost before he knew what had happened, Hermione was inches away from him, and he had been slapped once more across the face. Three slaps in one day! Draco was beginning to feel more than a bit angry. Not touching his face, least Granger realize that her slap did hurt, he snapped his head up and focused his eyes on the girl.  
  
"What the crap did you do that for?"  
  
"What did I do that for?" she almost laughed as she repeated his words. "Well Draco, you so conveniently left me with this, by not showing up in the dorm tonight."  
  
After speaking she took the silencing charm off the baby who was still screaming.  
  
"Gods Hermione," Draco shouted with his hands over his ears, "Can't you shut that thing up?"  
  
Hermione's laughter was both incredulous and manic as she thrust the baby at Draco. "She's all yours!"  
  
Draco's eyes went wide as he tried to hold the squirming screaming form in his arms. Not feeling very kind at the moment, Hermione watched as Draco struggled to keep the baby from falling. After finally getting a good hold on the baby, Draco began to look at her as a doctor examines his patient.  
  
"You say she's been crying all night?"  
  
Hermione's snort was all the confirmation he needed. He whispered a few soft words, and within a minute, the baby had become calm and quiet.  
  
Hermione's jaw dropped. "How did you? But she..... and you..... and....."  
  
"Who'd have ever thought, Hermione Granger speechless."  
  
Hermione, gaining her good temper back now that she could actually hear herself think, punched Draco lightly in the arm, but this punch was different, not like those other slaps earlier that day. Draco couldn't explain it exactly, but there seemed to be a fondness in the slap that was only there between friends. Stealing a quick glance at Hermione, he wondered if underneath all that had happened, she might not entirely hate him.  
  
As Hermione stroked the head of the almost sleeping babe, she asked Draco how he had managed to subdue the child.  
  
Draco laughed and scratched the back of his head, "It's easy really when you aren't used to dealing with muggle babies."  
  
Hermione shot him a glance that he knew meant she was offended.  
  
"No not like that," he immediately amendment, "Baby witches and wizards, when in an environment where magical energies are high, go through a period of, well, 'magical teething' for a lack of a better term."  
  
"Magical teething?"  
  
"Yes, they are beginning to realize that they have powers, but they don't know how to use them. It is almost as if the power controls them at times. It can be both frustrating and painful for the baby."  
  
"And the spell you cast?"  
  
"It helps to ease the pain and mind of the child. They don't know what is happening to them. Unfortunately, it can't control all the symptoms."  
  
By now, both teens had made themselves comfortable sitting on the ground leaning on the same tree Draco had been in front of earlier.  
  
"I never thought raising a witch would be so different from raising a muggle, what about muggle borns?"  
  
"What about them?" Draco asked.  
  
"Why don't they go through the same thing?"  
  
"Well, they do, sort of," Draco paused to think of the right words to explain the process. "They still realize that they can do things, but cannot control the power, however, since their parents are muggles there is not much magical energy that they can put to use, and they lack the proper training to do it themselves. They are still cranky and uncomfortable making them whine a lot."  
  
"Hermione laughed, that explains things. By using power, do you mean they actually do magic?"  
  
"In a sense, yes."  
  
"And any that the muggle borns might do, is dismissed as an oddity merely because the repetition is less."  
  
"I think your catching on," Draco said.  
  
It was then when they locked eyes that both teens realized that they had been smiling and talking normally. They broke their gaze quickly each becoming transfixed on the ground.  
  
Hermione rubbed her bare arms noticing now how cold she was. "It's chilly out here," she muttered. "We should get back upstairs before Caitlyn catches cold."  
  
Draco agreed and stood to leave when Hermione threw the invisibility cloak over him. "I knew it!" he said as Hermione herself got under the thick cloak too. They made their way slowly up to the castle.  
  
Back in the room Hermione sat on her bed and watched as Draco gently laid down the baby he was carrying in his crib.  
  
"I'll never understand you Draco Malfoy," Hermione said absent-mindedly, "Sometimes you can be so caring, and other times......" her voice trailed off leaving Draco to muse at what she had been thinking.  
  
"And other times what?" he asked gently.  
  
Hermione seemed to be struggling with something deep inside her before she answered, "Sometimes I think you have no heart." She turned around so that he was no longer facing him, his words from that morning fresh in her mind and still stinging.  
  
Draco, still not sure about any thought of feeling he had crossed the room to her bed sitting behind her and placed a hand on her back, which she immediately shrinked away from. Draco felt as if someone had cut his soul in half with a knife. He struggled with leaving her well enough alone, and enveloping her entirely in his arms. His thoughts cut back and forward form one to the other until he became so mixed up he was fairly certain that he would never think straight again.  
  
All of a sudden Draco stood up, "I can't take it anymore!" As he spoke, Draco crossed the room and banged his fist against the wall, ignoring the shock of pain that racked through him.  
  
Hermione had turned now so she could see him, and even though his back was to her, he could feel the concern in her look as she watched him.  
  
After a few deep breaths, Draco said the only thing he could think. He was too tired, too confused to lie anymore. "Gods I hate you Hermione."  
  
He could hear Hermione gasp and see the tears that came to her eyes without even seeing her. "I hate you because of what you do to me. Before all of this, I knew exactly who I was, what I was supposed to do and be. Now, now I'm not even sure what my name is any more. You've got me so mixed up. I don't know any thing, I can't think properly."  
  
The bed creaked and Draco knew she was now standing up and would be walking towards him, but he could not stop the emotion that poured out of him.  
  
"I'm scared Hermione. Because as great as I can feel when I am with you, I just think of my father and I know what would happen if he knew..... I am afraid for you Hermione. What I feel for you taints you. It will haunt you, it will hurt you."  
  
Hermione laid a hand on Draco's back which was all too much for the boy and he turned around and grabbed he firmly by the shoulders, and as he spoke he walked forward in turn pushing Hermione back as his talking turned to frantic yelling.  
  
"No Hermione! It's not that easy! It's never been that easy! If this were any other place, any other time, but it's not it's here and now! We are on the eve of the biggest battle in the history of the magical world, and you are Harry Potter's best friend, and I am a Death Eater! A Death Eater!"  
  
Hermione had by this time backed up against the bed, and as Draco sank to his knees, Hermione sat upon the bed. Draco placed his head in her lap. After whipping a tear from her cheek, Hermione began to run her fingers through the blond hair as Draco did something that he had not done in all his memory: he cried.  
  
next chapter in a few days I promise!  
  
Father's Day I have to go!  
  
Thank you for reviewing!  
  
Love you guys!  
  
Atiannala 


	16. What's Up?

Disclaimer: I still own nothing.  
  
What's Up?  
  
An hour had almost past and Hermione still pet Draco's blond head, which was in her lap. His tears had long since ceased, and now he just lay there resting. When he finally felt ready, he picked his head up slowly and looked into Hermione's eyes.  
  
"I..... I'm not quite sure what to say," the girl began.  
  
"You don't have to say anything," Draco whispered in the quiet room as he stood up and began to walk away from Hermione, "I wasn't expecting you to feel the same or understand even, I just....."  
  
"Draco, no," Hermione had stood and taken a few steps toward the tall blond boy but stopped as he turned around. As she continued, Draco noticed that it looked like there were tears in her eyes.  
  
"Draco, your right." She turned around so that she wasn't looking at him, "There are things about to happen, things greater than us, greater than everything. The battle will come and we will fight, you on one side, and I on the other. It would be foolish and naïve to think that we could be together in a time like this, and it tears me apart inside, because as much as I tell myself you are my enemy, my heart insists otherwise."  
  
Draco by now had walked up behind her and put his arms around her slender waist, and kissed her cheek, which was salty from the silent tears that she cried. She turned around in his arms so that now her face was a mere inches from him.  
  
"Draco, I..... I'm afraid."  
  
"Afraid of what?" He asked holding her closer, feeling that at that moment, nothing mattered except the two of them.  
  
Looking down at the ground, she spoke, "When this school year ends, it won't be safe for us to speak ever again. I'm afraid of not being able to let you go."  
  
"Hermione," at her name, the girl looked up into his eyes, "Let's not worry about that tonight. Let's worry about that when the time comes. Tonight, let's just be together."  
  
Not being able to find the words to express what she felt, Hermione simply allowed herself to be pulled into Draco's chest closing her arms tighter around him as his arms did the same and his head came to rest on top of her own.  
  
Draco was quite comfortable and ended up thinking out loud, "After the war, what about after?"  
  
Hermione shook her hear. "We still couldn't if my side wins, you will be in Azkaban; if you win, then I will be murdered. There is no future for us."  
  
"Then we really should stop hugging and carrying on like this shouldn't we?"  
  
"Yes we should," agreed the brunette.  
  
Neither teen moved.  
  
"Tomorrow then," Draco suggested, "We will stop carrying on like this tomorrow."  
  
"Mmm....." Hermione said nodding into Draco's chest.  
  
"Or maybe the next day," Draco mumbled as he pulled the girl in tighter to him. Words could not explain the way he felt right then. It was as if everything in the world that had been so jumbled only moments before had suddenly fallen back into place.  
  
Silently Draco promised himself that he would never stop carrying on the way that they were, that there would be a tomorrow and the next day no matter how dangerous, no matter how naive.  
  
Hermione shifted in his arms, "You know we can't do this right?"  
  
Draco tried to think why it was that they couldn't do this and found that his memory was a bit fuzzy as a result of Hermione's intoxicating presence. He started to say yes, but found the word that escaped was a no.  
  
Hermione sighed and pulled away slightly.  
  
Draco hurriedly tried to make sense of his disjointed thoughts. "Look Hermione," he took a breath before continuing. "Hermione, I know that I might have grown up in a family that has a skewed sense of right and wrong, but deep down all along I knew what felt right and what didn't. I knew that hardly anything my father wanted me to do felt right. But this, Hermione, this feels right. And I can't let it go that easily."  
  
"Draco don't be silly. You don't even know what we are. I mean are you willing to risk your life for a fling?"  
  
"I am willing to risk my life for what I feel in my heart."  
  
Hermione didn't speak for a moment, trying to decide what to do. "Draco, you're being illogical."  
  
"And you're being too logical! Hermione look me in the eyes." When she had complied he continued. "You asked me if I would risk my life on something that I couldn't even define. Well are you willing to risk your happiness because you were afraid to take a chance."  
  
"Draco, it isn't the smart thing to do."  
  
"And last time I checked, you were a Gryffindor not a Ravenclaw."  
  
Hermione seemed to consider this for a moment. "Draco we could die tomorrow."  
  
"Then at least let us die happy."  
  
Hermione enfolded herself once again in Draco's arms, burying her head in his chest. "When did this all happen?" she asked quietly.  
  
"I don't know Hermione, I don't know."  
  
When they finally pulled apart to go to bed, Hermione caught Draco's arm. "No, stay with me tonight, please." She looked down at the floor shyly and waited to see what Draco would do.  
  
She looked up when she felt Draco's soft lips caress her forehead. A faint smile crossed her lips as she reached for his hand. They climbed slowly and awkwardly into the bed pulling the covers up and finally settling with Hermione's head on Draco's right shoulder and his arm around her back.  
  
As they lay there, Hermione stroked Draco's other arm absent-mindedly, that is until she remembered what Draco had said earlier.  
  
Draco had been watching her and held his breath as he knew what the girl was sure to do next. She pushed his left sleeve up slowly and revealed:  
  
Nothing! There was not a single line marring the soft whit flesh. Hermione looked up into his eyes slightly confused.  
  
"I thought...... you said....."  
  
"No, not yet," he informed her, "as soon as this last school year is over, then I will receive my mark. It is the Dark Lord's orders and my father's will."  
  
There was something in his tone that made Hermione wonder.  
  
"But is it yours?"  
  
Hermione closed her mouth abruptly as she realized that she had hit a sore spot for Draco's eyes had become suddenly transfixed on the wall, his attitude alone answering her question. As Hermione closed her eyes that night the thought running through her brain was that perhaps it was not yet too late.  
  
Hermione woke the next morning feeling relaxed and satisfied. Upon opening her eyes, she realized that Draco was still there holding her. Smiling to herself she got up to go to the bathroom, however, as soon as she swung her legs over the side of the bed she gave a great scream.  
  
"What? Wha....." Draco shot up in bed and looked around assessing their dilemma. "Hermione," he began, "Remember how I was telling you about that Magical Teething?"  
  
Hermione nodded curtly.  
  
"Well, this is the sort of stuff that happens; it's natural."  
  
"Natural! You call waking up in a bed that is practically touching the ceiling natural!"  
  
Next chappie we explore the magical teething more. yes It will be fun.  
  
For those of you that read my other stories, I am going to be updating "Behind Closed Doors" as soon as my Beta returns.  
  
I also am starting a new story- I find it easiest to write when I can flip back and forward between a couple of stories, less writer's block that way. This story will be a Horror and called "December Nights" I am posting it when I post this chapter.  
  
This chapter was short, but the next chapter is too long to tack on to this one. I am going to write the next chapter of this next, so expect another update before next Friday.  
  
Thank you for reading and reviewing!   
  
Atiannala 


	17. Teething?

AN: SORRY SO SORRY about the really long wait but life has really been kicking my arse. Thank you for bearing with me!

Disclaimer: same as always!

Teething?

"All right," Hermione said with a slight not of panic in her voice, "Get me DOWN!"

Slowly, Draco shook his head. "If only it were that simple Hermione."

"What do you mean 'if only it were that simple?'"

"Well," Draco tried to figure out how to explain the situation, "Hermione, any magick used to counter the magick done by the baby will cause harm to the baby."

"So what you're saying exactly is what?"

"That we have to stay here until the magick runs out on its own." When Hermione visibly blanched, Draco decided to add, "But how long can a baby hold a bed in mid-air for anyways?"

The question was answered an hour and a half later when the bed finally dropped to the ground at top speed.

"Hermione!" Draco had shouted as soon as the harsh landing was over as he looked for Hermione. Unfortunately the young brunette was already getting sick, the fall having not agreed with her.

When Hermione finally emerged from the bathroom, she crossed the room to collapse on the bed and thought better of using that particular piece of furnature.

When Draco asked Hermione how she was feeling, he was immediately silenced with a death glare.

Hermione set about getting dressed and Draco followed suit. It seemed that by the end of this routine task, Hermione was once again feeling her normal self.

Taking a deep breath, Hermione turned and spoke, "Draco, we need to talk."

Draco almost looked taken aback. "Hermione, you can't break up with me, we aren't going out."

"I'm not breaking up with you, you twit!"

"You're not?" the blond asked looking slightly confused and relieved.

"No."

"So we are not breaking up then."

"Yes,"

"Which makes us still together right?"

"What?" Hermione by now was getting a little confused.

"Well, if we aren't breaking up, then we must be not breaking up, and there fore together."

"But Draco, you just said we weren't together!"

"I did?"

"yes!"

"When?"

"About two minutes ago!"

Draco seemed to consider for a moment and then said, "Are you sure?"

Just then a chair went flying across the room and nearly knocked out both teens causing Hermione to release a frustrated moan and stormed across the room and began to set about doing homework. If Draco was going to be insufferable, then she was going to pointedly ignore him.

After an hour of peering over her books, Hermione had written three and a half sentences on the parchment before her. Looking over at her roommate, she found him looking at some Quidditch book; apparently Caitlyn's magical outbursts had not disturbed him a bit. Hermione slammed her book shut, which was enough to get the blond's attention.

"Watch'a doing?" he asked as Hermione as she stalked across the room to the fireplace.

"I cannot think with this racket and we do need to talk and all of it is simply too much to bear at once. If I am ever going to have my work ready for Monday, we are going to need to deal with this now. Now keep her quiet for a minuet!"

Draco tried his best to keep the baby quiet as Hermione contacted Harry and Ron in their dorm and asked them to come sit for Caitlyn so that she could go do some work in the library. Both boys were more than willing to help. "Fools!" Draco thought to himself.

A quarter of an hour later, he and Hermione were standing outside their room bidding good day to Harry and Ron. Caitlyn had fallen asleep and they had set the room back in order. As Hermione instructed the two Gryffindors on when to feed the child and what time she needed to be in bed, Draco was aware of two sets of eyes that were cutting through him. Wasting no time on formalities to those who did not behave civilly to himself, he began to walk as soon as Hermione made to hug her two friends goodbye.

Jogging to catch up with Draco, she began to speak breathlessly. "You might have said thank you at least!"

Draco turned to Hermione, "You know, for such a brilliant student you really are quite naïve when it comes to social affairs."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"It means that had you even been conscious of the interaction between your two friends and myself you would have noticed that they were counting down the seconds until they are free to hex me at their will again!"

Hermione stopped for a moment and sighed before running to catch Draco's arm and force him to turn and look at her. "I know Draco," she said looking boldly into his eyes before turning them down to the floor and shyly dropping his arm. "I know, but it doesn't mean that it always has to be like that. You have given them nothing but cause to hate you, if you even acted civilly to them for a bit they might be able to see past it all, I did."

The thought of Hermione knowing too much of his own affairs turned on all his defenses. He had been careful his whole life to never let any one in, and now, he had slipped up because of a pair of pretty eyes. Grabbing Hermione by the shoulders, he looked forcibly into her eyes as he spoke.

"Look, I don't know what sort of delusions we were both under last night, but one night of confused juvenile emotions does not make us closer than we ever were. You don't know me, or what it is like to be me, so don't presume to. I want you to go to the headmaster now with the news of our separation. We should be able to move back into our rooms tonight, after that I never want to speak to you again!"

Letting go of her after holding her far tighter than he ought to have and knowing his actions had just betrayed his true emotions, he began to walk down the hall away from her when he heard her stifle a sob.

"I don't get you! One moment you are joking al paling around with me and the next you are throwing me around as if I meant nothing to you."

Turning around to look at her coldly, he spoke. "This is how it has to be..... Hermione."

He had said her name slowly as if it were the last time he was ever going to use it and felt regret at that.

Hermione watched him leave in a stir of emotions not understanding either her own or his. Sinking to the ground she rested her head upon her knees and tried to think.

"Yes Headmaster, you wished to see me?" Severus Snape asked as he tentatively watched the headmaster turn away from a large glass ball with a look on his face as if digesting a rather complicated scene. "Spying on the children again?" Snape inquired boldly.

"Severus," the old man spoke as if not hearing the latter accusation, "I have asked you here because I have learned a great deal of information that may further our advantage in dealings with Voldemort."

Severus felt as if he must have paled slightly, but spoke as unwavering as ever, "Go on."

"Well, it has been brought to my attention," the old mage resumed, "That our own Draco Malfoy has had a change of heart."

Malfoy! Of all the names Severus despised the most, this was top of the list. The elder Malfoy had been a sort of mentor to him as he had joined the Dark Ranks that served Voldemort and had inflicted many tourtures and pains on young Severus. As Malfoy had a seemingly endless amount of money and power, he had been raised high in the Dark Master's esteems and the former had much say in the passings of all lower ranked Death Eaters. In sense, Lucius was Voldemort's eyes and ears when it concerned the other Death Eaters and he took much pleasure in doing his master's 'dirty work.'

"What do you mean by a change of heart?" Severus questioned.

"Well," Dumbledore began eyes finally twinkling with their usual merriment, "it would appear that in light of recent events, young Draco has fallen for the charming Miss Granger, and she returns his affections."

The headmaster watched as Severus processed this information. A union between the two young mages would be a powerful one such as the wizarding world had not seen in ages as both were of the three most powerful wizards of their age. This union would be a very unfavorable match to the Dark Lord as well, considering Hermione's low birth by his standards, no matter how powerful she was, it was not enough to excuse her muggle birth. If Draco chose to follow this romance, he too would fall out of favor with the Dark Lord.

When it looked like Severus had ingested the information, the headmaster continued. "It has also come to my knowledge that Draco has not ever been particularly favored to becoming a Death Eater."

Snape looked quickly at his senior. Had what he said just been true? If Draco had never desired to become a Death Eater, and now, there was a plausible reason not to..... what could this mean for the Malfoys? What would this mean for the order? Severus listened as his employer went on.

"Draco has never wanted to become a Death Eater, but as it was always expected of him he has always followed this path. As all good teenagers do, Draco has questioned the words of the authority, of his parents, of Voldemort, why of even you and I. He has found his own beliefs and his own judgments, and now, I daresay, his own passions and emotions. However his father is still a very imposing figure and a force that one does not cross on one's own."

What was the headmaster saying? Was this small ray of hope to be so easily extinguished?

"I want you to go to him Severus."

"Sir?" was the headmaster really bidding him to do what he assumed?

"Go to him Severus. Reveal to him the truth. Show him that he is not alone. I have faith Severus, faith in this, faith in him, faith in you. I know that if there is anyone who can help this poor misguided boy it is you. Help him, Severus, help him as I helped you."

Professor Snape bowed his head. "As you wish, Headmaster."

Harry and Ron were sitting on the floor enjoying a game of Wizard Chess. Babysitting had proved to be a tedious task and one that would have ruined an entire afternoon had Harry not thought to summon their game. The baby had woken up a bit ago, but had never fussed so they figured her amused and kept playing.

"Harry!"

Harry looked up at his friend who was glaring at him accusingly. "What?"

"Didn't I already take one of your knights?"

"Yeah, I s'pose so. Why?"

"Because there it is on the bloody chessboard!"

Harry looked down and realized that his knight had somehow snuck its way back on the board. "Ron, I didn't! I swear!"

"Right, and I'm the bloody Queen of England! I can't believe that you would stoop so low as....."

But Ron was never able to finish his sentence because at that moment he was pegged in the head by a bishop.

"And throwing chess pieces! Really Harry! It is only a game after all!"

"But I didn't....."

But by now, all the chess pieces had begun to rise from the board and fly about the room.

"What the....?"

"Ghost!"

"I don't see any ghost."

"Well..... uh....."

But then the baby laughed.

"Is she?" Harry asked hesitantly when Ron shouted.

"Bloody hell!"

"What?" Harry asked.

"Teething....." Ron said ducking a rogue rook, "Magical teething!"

"Headmaster?" Hermione spoke in a shy quiet voice.

"Ahh yes! Good to see you Miss Granger! And where is your travel companion might I ask?"

"Well, the spell has appeared to worn off."

"Ahh, yes. Well you two do still have that assignment to do for me, you need not worry about having to move back into your own dorms as of yet."

Hermione's eyes went wide. "Actually Headmaster, we were hoping to move back into our normal housing as soon as possible."

"You do know Miss Granger that divorce is looked upon very lowly in the wizarding world. And it is not easy to be a single parent."

Hermione turned so that she was not facing her Headmaster. "It has become impossible for Draco and I to live in the same quarters any longer."

"Very well Miss Granger, I understand. Both you and Mr. Malfoy will report here to my office at one P.M. tomorrow afternoon to draw up a custody agreement. I will inform the house elves and they will be ready to move you possessions tomorrow evening."

"Tomorrow sir?" Hermione asked anxiously.

"The House Elves are busy Miss Granger. As head of S.P.E.W I would think you better aware of that than anyone else."

Hermione nodded curtly. "Of course Headmaster." And with that she took her leave.

When Hermione got back to her dorm, she was greeted by an unusual sight. Both of her best friends were standing in a pile of furniture, textbooks, clothing, chess pieces, and a various array of other items that had once been neatly put away; Caitlyn was asleep in her crib.

Ron pulling a pair of shorts off his head and slamming it to the floor stalked across the room and past Hermione leaving the room.

"That was a dirty, rotten, trick you pulled!"

Harry, who appeared to have a few pawns entangled in his hair, followed suit, "A Dirty, Rotten Trick!"

Hermione sighed as she closed the door to her room. "Boys, huh." With a wave of her wand everything went back into place, and she sat on her bed looking around the room that was lit with the gray light of the twilight. She decided that Caitlyn had the right idea and laid down on her own bed.

Draco had been walking around aimlessly for hours when his feet had found their way to the dungeons. Here it was possible to escape every other living being if you knew the right places. That is why it came as a rather particular shock when Draco had to stop short in order not to run into his Head of House. Where had he come from?

The Surly man stood before Draco intimidating and imposing. He spoke naught but two words, "Follow me."

Draco obeyed not having a choice in the matter and followed his Professor through the dungeons and into the potions classroom. As soon as Draco stepped inside, the Professor immediately bolted the door.

"Sit down Draco," he commanded indicating a chair, and then with a less patient tone added, "Now."

Draco helplessly obeyed.

Alright, so next time, you get to see how it goes with Draco and Snape. It will be fun!

Thank you very much for reading and reviewing. I have finally worked the story that I now have a clear path and visible ending (yay!) that means more frequent updates. Again I am sorry about the long wait for this chapter, but I have had to work about 40 hours a week and get ready to go to college. Be there in three weeks! Woot! It would also appear that I have a reverse seasonal depressive disorder (which I blame on living in florida) where I feel depressed in the summer (of course that is my own diagnosis.) in any case, I will let you go now, but.....

Your time was much appreciated and I thank you for spending it reading and reviewing my story!

Until next time (which will be a lot a lot sooner than last time)

Atiannala


	18. What the Snake Said

Disclaimer: Yup! You've guessed it, still not mine!

For the reviewer who decided to knock my title..... just to let you know, had you looked at the date, my story was published 10-18-03. Stuck on You the movie came out December 12, 2003 two months after my story was published. Try to get the facts straight before you dis things. Thank you.

What the Snake Said

Draco shifted uncomfortably as his professor stood silently looking at him, studying him as if searching for the smallest imperfection, the tiniest hint of a flaw. Draco found it quite disagreeable to be scrutinized so very closely and the heavy silence that fell upon the room was almost enough to choke on. Clearing his throat Draco looked up at his teacher expectantly.

Snape spoke in his low drawl with one arm crossed over his chest and the other rubbing his chin, his eyes never fell from Draco the whole time. "There are rumors boy, rumors about you and a Mudblood." Snape looked at the boy for any hint of a reaction and was almost certain that he saw one for half a second before Draco's face became a mask of ice. Feeling at least somewhat triumphant, the surly man continued.

"People are saying that you actually care for that filthy little wench. Tell me boy," he walked closer to Draco and leaned imposingly over the boy, "Is this true?"

Draco looked into his professor's eyes, never wavering, "Where did you hear such a preposterous idea as that?"

The professor smirked and stood up victoriously, "Avoiding the question, so it's true then. You do have a taste for Mudblood whores." Snape caught the glint that ran through Draco's eyes even though it did not touch the rest of his face. After many years of a spy, Severus had learned exactly what buttons to push and the tiniest signs that hinted a reaction. He continued on.

"You do know what the Dark Lord would do if he found out about your little obsession don't you? Hope you like to share." He smirked and notice that Draco began to sit up a little straighter. "Not to mention what he will do," Snape had begun circling Draco and was now behind the boy and he put both of his hands on the boy's shoulder, "to you."

Draco didn't move and so Snape continued on leaning in lower so as to whisper into Draco's ear, "No, not you though, not the great Draco Malfoy. You are far to smart to get caught up in such a mess. So what do you plan to do then? Fuck her until she is of no more use to you? Break her in and hand her to the Dark Lord as a present? That's what you are doing isn't it Draco? Taking you share of the spoils before you....."

But the potions master never got to finish his sentence because a spell had hit him in the chest and he went flying across the room and into a wall. When he looked up he saw Draco standing, breathing heavy, his hand clasped tightly around his wand, and a mix of confusion and emotions that Severus knew all too well covering his eyes. He had did it, broken through Draco's barriers and leveled them onto the same playing field.

Draco's confusion only spread as his professor began laughing. He hadn't at first realized that he had attacked his teacher, but the knowledge soon set in and Draco was certain he was going to be severely punished, that is until his teacher began laughing.

Snape looked Draco in the eyes, "Sit down boy!"

Draco dropped into the chair mechanically with wide eyes knowing that Severus Snape was not a man to piss off. There was surely going to be an intense repercussion for this.

Severus was once again circling him and finally stopped in front of him conjuring up a chair for himself. "Congratulations," the man said as he sat, further confusing his student, "You passed the first part of the test."

"I....." Draco shook his head, "What?"

"Shut up boy!" Severus snapped, "We haven't the time for your babble. What if I told you, you had a choice Draco? That you could do what you see fit."

"But Sir I..... I don't understand."

"There are two sides to this fight Draco, which will you choose?"

"Sir I am the Dark Lord's faithful servant just as you are," Draco said now fearing that by 'passing the test' he had proved some sort of disloyalty and that if he did not swear his allegiance to Voldemort, then he would find himself on the receiving end of a few unforgivables come the next Death Eater meeting.

Snape smirked sensing Draco's answer was over hasty and filled with fear. "Perhaps before comparing you loyalty to my own you should know that I have been a member of a band called the Order of the Phoenix lead by Albus Dumbledore- the chief opposition to the Dark Lord- for the past thirteen years."

If it was possible, Draco's eyes got even wider. "Sir, what are you saying?"

"I am saying Draco, that you can either choose to fight for or against the Dark Lord. Neither way will be easy, and any way you choose puts your life at risk, but you have a choice. Only your own heart can tell you where you belong, I belong fighting alongside Albus Dumbledore, against the man I once called Master."

Draco's brain was overflowing with concepts that he couldn't even begin to grasp. Severus Snape was not a Death Eater; not truly. He himself didn't have to join the ranks of the Dark Lord. Then, "But sir, isn't it dangerous to tell me all this? Suppose I choose to join the Dark Lord?"

Snape laughed, a sound that held no merriment. "How quickly you forget that a simple spell would erase this encounter entirely from your memory."

Draco looked at the ground, "Oh." He was still so confused. There was a choice? He could follow his own heart? His own feelings and opinions mattered? Did he have any desire to join the Dark Forces? Did he have any desire to cross his own father? "My..... my father," he whispered.

"What?" bellowed Snape, "You wish to be the same as your father?" Draco shook his head. "You feel bad leaving your father to his own fate?" Again Draco shook his head. "Well what then? Speak up boy, we haven't the time for this!"

After a second Draco spoke in a voice that sounded even smaller than he felt at the moment. "What will my father do to me if I choose the other side?"

Snape sighed figuring this was the time in which he was supposed to show compassion, or the closest thing to compassion he could show. He knew Draco's father well, and knew too that where it counted, Draco did not have a father, merely a large barrier that stood between him and freedom.

Not very good at the human relations aspect of life, Severus laid a hand awkwardly on top of Draco's own. Both Draco and the professor looked at the area of contact neither being much used to the subject especially in the paternal way Snape was attempting to convey. Snape took his own hand back. "Look," he began, "You father is not the worlds most powerful wizard, and in truth, most of his power comes from material possessions and not magic, you are stronger than him by far, and with the proper training could easily defeat him in any battle."

Draco looked up at his professor as the latter continued to speak. "You are now old enough to be legally responcible for yourself and your father cannot hold such a power over you any more. Should you choose our side, you will be provided for as best we can. True, it will not hold a candle to the spoils you receive at the Malfoy Manor, but it is meant much kinder." Draco thought that he must have been imagining things because he thought for a moment he saw his professor's eyes become watery.

"First Draco, before you make any choice, let me show you this." The professor pulled out a pensive and began filling it with his thoughts and memories. Touching his wand to the silvery liquid, he encouraged Draco to look.

Many scenes dances before Draco's eyes, most too horrible for words. He saw men screaming in agony as other men wearing dark cloaks helped themselves to the firsts' women. He saw children clutching blood-soaked teddy bears as they watched their parents fall, unaware of what was going on or what was about to happen to them. He saw grown men cry as their bodies writhed and bent in angles unnatural for normal humans. He saw blood, and tears, and death, and murder, and theft, and rape, and arson, he heard all the screams of the victims and began to believe that the sound would never leave his brain, he began to feel nauseous as he continued to look and felt that he would surely vomit or pass out if he saw any more before the picture changed again, and he saw a very pretty girl with dark brown hair and eyes of the same color smiling at him looking jovial and innocent. As she stood there smiling sweetly, the pensive went dark and the images ceased all together.

Draco was silent, not quite sure of what to say. He swallowed and then heard his teacher speak.

"Her name was Elizabeth. She was the only woman I will ever love. We met here at Hogwarts and planned to marry shortly after we graduated. She was a pureblood, but she had a kind heart, a kind heart that looked at me and didn't see a monster, a kind heart that could not stand to see innocent blood spilt or so many lives ruined. The Dark Lord wasn't happy that I planned to marry a girl who did not agree with his philosophy. One night while she slept he kidnapped her and then summoned me to his castle. I was forced to watch as ever Death Eater took his turn with her, forced to watch as she refused to cry or scream because she would show no weakness, forced to watch, as she was beaten to death. I myself was beaten and cursed and locked in a dungeon for three months with only enough food to just keep me alive. I was content to sit there and starve, they forced me to eat and kept me alive only to let the horror of what happen weigh upon me.

"It was after I got out and was a very broken man that I again ran into my old headmaster, and he could tell somehow that I needed out. He helped me as no one has helped me before. He took me in like a son and employed me both as a teacher and a spy. I have been both ever since. She had tried to stop me you know. Tried to keep me from joining his ranks, but I was blinded by my own ambition for power and by want of revenge to those who smote me in school. If I had not let my hatred of Potter and Black blind me, I might still have her today."

Draco was both confused and not confused, because as all he heard had not yet sunk properly in, he knew what he had to do. He got up and began walking towards the door.

"Draco, where are you going? You didn't tell me what choice you had made."

The blond stopped and turned to face his professor. "The rumors were true Professor, I do have feelings for her."

Severus watched as Draco hurried from the room and smiled as the door shut. Somehow, Saving Draco from the very fate he had incurred felt as if he was finally beginning to put right everything that he had done wrong. He knew that Draco's choice would break him from his family line completely. Severus decided that as he would have no children of his own, he would see Draco provided for. True he was not as rich as the Malfoy's but he had his own little sum that would allow them a rather comfortable life. He felt as if Draco were going to have the life he never got to have.

As soon as Draco left, he walked straight up to his dorm and didn't even stop as he entered. He crossed straight to the bed and cradled Hermione's sleeping form in his arms and pressed his lips to her own and felt her slowly awaken to find herself in his arms.

At first she seemed as if she would start in fright, but then her eyes softened and she raised a hand to Draco's face touching the side of his eye where a tear threatened to spill.

"Draco," she said in a soft and innocent voice that was still laced with sleep, "You're crying."

He smiled as a few tears fell freely now, "I love you. I know it's soon and sudden, but I do. And I am not going to let you go, not now not ever."

Hermione pushed herself so she was sitting upright and took Draco's hand in her own. As he continued to talk, his voice began to shake. "I don't have to be a Death Eater, I don't. I can be with you, and we can be happy. We can get married and we can have kids and live happily ever after and we wont have to worry about anything because as long as we have each other, we will be all right.

Hermione smiled as she cupped Draco's face in her hand and kissed him until she felt his muscles relax and his pulse calm. She gave him another warm smile and pulled him towards her so that she was cuddling him and his head lay upon her breast. As she began playing with his hair, she told him to tell her everything from the beginning.

".....And I just walked out of the Potions Room. Everything seemed so much clearer."

When Draco finished speaking he looked up at Hermione his grey eyes shining with newfound hope.

"So what are you going to do then?" she inquired, hoping that Draco had some plan or another.

"I have absolutely no idea!" He began laughing causing Hermione to stare at him as if he were hysterical. When he regained control over his laughing fit, he enlightened her as to what was so funny. "That is to say I am not going to become a Death Eater, however, it means that once this school year has ended I have no where to go." The seriousness returned to his eyes and he rested his head once again on Hermione. "I'm alone."

"No," Hermione corrected holding him closer to her chest, "Not alone, never alone. You know I am going to help you with this. You will get through it."

Draco shook his head and buried himself as far into Hermione as he could. "Just hold me."

They stayed like that for the rest of the night, resting together finally knowing that they were free to express their affections.

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office when an owl flew in through the open window. Relieving the bird of its burden, he stroked its feathers and sent it on its way. The letter inside was written in a very neat pen and was rather short and to the point.

Headmaster,

After much discussion with my roommate, Mr. Malfoy and I have decided to remain the remainder of the term in this dorm so that we may be better apt to fulfill the requirements of our assignment. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Hermione Granger

Albus smiled as he folded the letter and put it away. He was expecting company at any moment and the letter promised that the future meeting would bring good tidings.

"Headmaster," a low voice called from the doorway.

Dumbledore smiled, "Ahh! Come in Severus. Do sit down. Lemon drop?"

Snape brushed the sweets aside allowing the old man to continue.

"Your attempt was successful Severus, I do believe that with your help as well as the help of Hermione Granger, Draco will become one of us. I need you now Severus to show him the way."

Severus's eyebrows lowered slightly, "What exactly are you proposing sir?"

"I need you to teach Draco all that you know. I need you to help him realize the good inside of him. He will doubt himself in the same way you did, Severus. You are the one person who could even relate to what he will go through. It will be because of you that Draco's life will be better."

Severus fell silent. He had for a long time wanted the chance to save lives and thought many opportunities had arisen and were met with success, none had filled Severus's desire to repent for the evil deeds of his past. Now, he was given the opportunity of not saving a life, but a soul. The man looked up into the knowing eyes of his employer. "I will do what pleases you Headmaster."

Dumbledore smiled, the twinkle in his eye was present as always. "Very good Severus. I expect you to meet with the boy three times a week at least, and if you would, with Miss Granger as well." After Severus cringed slightly he added. "She will also be key to the boy's survival."

"Very well," the Potions Master grumbled.

"You may tell Draco that we have arranged for him to stay at headquarters once the school term comes to an end. I believe he will be glad to hear it."

"Indeed," Severus agreed.

The Headmaster smiled once more, "That will be all Professor."

Snape bowed his head, "Good evening then."

"Good evening."

See this on didn't take nearly as long! hope you liked it! THANK YOU ALL for reading, reviewing, and enjoying my story! Until next time which shouldn't take too long. I want to get out one more chapter before I leave for college at the end of next week.


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